FITTED COVER WITH INVERTED PLEATS
This cover has a top panel with piped edges, and a straight skirt with inverted pleats at the corners of the foot of the bed. Calculate the finished measurements for the bedspread – the overall length and width of the top panel and the depth of the skirt. Cut a rectangle of fabric for the top panel, allowing a 12 mm U in) seam allowance all round. Cut a piece of lining fabric the same size. Cut an? Join the sections for the skirt, adding 40cm (16 in) for pleats at each corner.
Allow a 12 mm seam allowance along the top edge and 5cm for double hems all around the sides and lower edges. Make up sufficient piping to fit all around the sides and lower edge of the top panel. Join fabric to make up a top panel if necessary. Round off the corners at the foot of the bed for a less severe shape, position piping all around the sides and lower edge of the top panel and tack and stitch in place using the zipper foot, taking a 12 mm seam allowance.
Clip into seam allowances as necessary to fit the piping around the corners. If the corners are rounded, lay the cover on the bed and mark the position of the pleats at the corners of the top panel with pins. Turn under 2.5cm double hems down the sides and along the lower edge of the skirt, mitring the corners. Measure and pin pleats to fit at the corners of the bedspread, and then stitch across the top of the pleats, just inside the seam line. Position the skirt around the sides and lower edge of the bedspread, with right sides facing and raw edges matching.
Clip into the seam allowance of the skirt at the corners if necessary to help the fabric lie flat. Pin and tack in place, following the line of stitching which is holding the piping in place. Layer the seam allowance. Position the lining over the top panel, right sides facing and raw edge matching, stitch across the top edge, and turn the lining to the wrong side. Turn under 12 mm U in) all around the lining and slip stitch in place, enclosing the raw edges of the top panel, the skirt and the piping.
MAKING QUILTS A simple throw over bedspread in quilted fabric gives a smart finish and provides an extra layer of warmth over blankets or a duvet. In warmer weather, the quilt and a flat top sheet alone provide ample bed covering. Although ready-quilted fabric and ready- made quilts are available, by quilting your own fabric, you can alter the spacing, direction or even the shape of the quilting to suit the fabric. A straight striped fabric, for example, is particularly effective quilted with parallel lines of stitching, following the stripes of the fabric. For more elaborate detail, shape the quilting to outline bold motifs in a pattern.
QUILTED THROW OVER Cut a panel of main fabric, the size of the finished bedspread plus 10 cm (4 in) all around. Cut the wadding and lining fabric (preferably in a contrast fabric, as the throw over is reversible) to the same size. 1 Join widths of fabric with a flat seam, and butt widths of wadding together, joining them with zigzag stitch or by hand with.