Making a Wreath

I made a new wreath for my door and I am quite pleased with the results. I used a newer product called "Poly Resin Deco Mesh". It's a plastic type of mesh-like fabric that comes in all sorts of colours and styles. I found some reasonably priced rolls at my local green house that also specializes in greenery for the holiday season.

Using a 50 per cent off coupon for Michael's, I bought a wire wreath form and some floral wire.



You start by bunching the mesh and tying to the wire wreath with the floral wire. Billow the mesh and tie another bunch to the wire wreath making sure it is very close to the first tie. This makes a nice tight billow of fabric. As you go around the wreath try to make sure the billows are consistent so the wreath looks even.



I also bought some Christmas balls and tied them together with wire. I placed these throughout the wreath.



The store also sold pre-made ones for $30 or more, but mine only cost $12 because I did it myself. There are some Youtube videos put out by the companies that make the product and I found these visual tutorials very helpful.

Thrifty Find

I bought this lovely soft yellow stock pot at Goodwill last week during the 50 per cent off sale. This had got to be the most beautiful pot I have ever seen. I have been using it to cook and blanch corn but I also plan to use it as a secondary canning pot. It cost me $5.









The wooden spoons were also a nice find at fifty cents. They are decorative since I am not sure they are food grade but they will fit in nicely with my primitive decorating scheme.

A Duvet Cover

After a few weeks of searching for the perfect duvet cover for our bed I finally gave up. Everything I saw was ultra modern and simply not my style. I wanted a solid colour, not stripes or florals. I wanted to reserve my patterning for the throw pillows and room accents. I also wanted something with a soft tone to create a feeling of calm relaxation. I found nothing to satisfy me so I decided to make my own.

In my search I found a 3 sheet set. In all there were 6 sheets, 2 fitted and 2 flat for each colour and 6 pillow shams. I don't use the flat sheets on our beds, just the fitted ones so the flat sheets were the perfect size.

Here's how I made my duvet cover. I made an extra wide hem on the bottom of each sheet where I could fasten snaps or ties to slip the duvet in and out. Then placing the sheets right side in, I sewed all around the outside of the sheets being careful to leave an opening on the bottom hem. This opening is about a third of the total width, so I can fold the duvet lengthwise in thirds and feed it in and unfold it in the cover.

Then you add your snaps, and make it right side out.




I gave it a quick wash and dry to get rid of the wrinkles and voila! a duvet cover for under $20.

I plan to use the flat cream sheet to create accent pillows with ties, ribbon, buttons and all manner of fun sewing. I will update with pictures as my bedroom takes shape.