Make floor cushion

Dorm life is cramped. There's limited space...especially at the University of Florida. So a logical solution would be floor cushions! I would like to thank Amy Butler for the idea. She has the most beautiful fabrics and patterns I've ever seen. Imagine Vera Bradley x 100 translated into a pattern and you get Amy Butler.

Make shaye's dorm room.

My friend Shaye is going to a different college next year :( but that's okay because we'll still see each other...sometimes... She's in a triple dorm and her roomies decided on a black and white color scheme with accents. Each room mate gets an accent. Shaye=purple.


I offered to make her dorm stuff because I love her and because school is starting soon and she's been backpacking through Europe all summer. She found this beautiful fabric at Urban Outfitters and a purple jersey sheet set. She thinks I'm only making her a duvet cover...silly Shaye.


I made the duvet cover, which was a bit of a challenge because I don't usually sew with stretchy material. I can't even find the zig zag attachment to my sewing machine! I just kept hearing Tim Gunn's voice in my head, "Make it work, Wendy." Yesss siiirrr!

The duvet cover cute, then I sewed on some buttons and button holes. Then, I cut her jersey pillows in half and made two pillows with the extra UO fabric. Her guests will never have to go without.


This is one of my favorite things in the world! I went to the sewing studio in Maitland and they had this all these amazing books. I found one about printing on fabric. Coolest thing I've ever heard of! I remember printing clothes on my Barbie Fashion Designer game when I was little. I went to JoAnn's armed with a 40% off coupon and got some printable fabric.

This owl was so easy to make and he is so precious. I hope takes good care of him.


There was a little bit more fabric left so I made a floor pillow. I love you Shaye!

Make bedding

I made a bunch of stuff for my bedroom. My roommate and I decided on the color scheme pink and green with accents of white and blue (turquoise). Once I started sewing...I just could not stop. These are all the products of a single summer.

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1. I quilted the largest pillow. It slips on the back. I just used leftover fabric from my quilt. The small square pillow was made from an old dress and leftover material from the duvet cover. The cylinder pillow was handsewn. I love making pillows. I don't want to overdo it though, I still need room to sleep on.


2. This was inspired by PB teens. They have these adorable foam boards for posting pictures, etc., but they're insanely overpriced. I just glued foam (they sell it in rolls at the crafts section) onto cardboard from my old science fair tri-folds. Then, I stretched fabric over top and hotglued it on. I made six small foam squares so I could rearrange them around my room. (Emily is my room mate in case you're wondering)


3. I have never quilted before. I mean...I made a baby blanket in 7th grade Home Economics class but other than that. Quilting is a bit foreign. It's an investment. Cutting boards are expensive, then you need a good ruler and rotary cutter. I started off buying a quilt from Anthropologie but it was too yellow for my room so I returned it and made this.

First, I watched a you tube video on quilting to figure out how it worked. Then, two days later, I was finished. I am a really quick sewer. I mixed a lot of patterns because I didn't want a boring, old cat lady quilt. I used embroidery thread to make a flower on the corner. Overall, I'm satified with my first quilt!


4. My quilt is kind of thin, so I figured I should make a duvet cover as well. I love this collection they have at Target with peonies. I'm obsessed with peonies. They sold fabric (non-vinyl) shower curtains of this fabric so I bought a couple of them. I make this duvet cover out of the shower curtain. I added pillow cases to the bottom because it wasn't long enough. The other side is a flat sheet. The shower curtain is convenient because it already had slits at the top so I could use them as button holes. They actually sell this comforter set for $70+ but I only spend about $30 and I can remove remove the cover and wash it.


I love my room! :)

Make round chairs.

I was looking at seating for my future dorm room. I needed something small, portable and still cute. I found the perfect chairs on pottery barn kids. Well, kind of perfect. There were minor issues. The first issue being...$110!! And that's not including shipping. They want $40 just for the slipcover. And the chair is intended for small children meaning my butt would probably not fit in it. So the design seemed simple enough, it was a cylinder with another cylinder on top.


I found some ottomans around the house and just made slip covers for them. Total cost= less than $10. The pink/white stripe fabric was on sale at Wal-mart for $2 a yard. The white chair was made entirely out of old clothes. The arm rest is a free people skirt, the bottom is an Abercrombie mini skirt, and the seat is a Democracy dress. I used the rest of the dress to make an apron.