I
thoroughly enjoyed mending my log basket yesterday with the sun
beating down on my back! The morning however, was spent indoors doing
another job (converting this time) that took nearly 2 hours and was a
struggle. I won in the end though the air was often many shades of
blue during my battle.
As
we use duvets in our house, they are just too big
to fit in the washing machine and too expensive to leave at the
launderette for them to wash. All our beds use the next size duvet up from their size so a single uses a double, a double a king etc.
So every 3 years or so, despite lots of
airing, they need the heave ho. Goodness knows what is breeding in
there after that time.
I
don't know about you but I resent paying almost as much to have them
cleaned as buying new. Also the waste is a bit difficult to stomach.
So what is the answer?
Convert
them.
Yep,
that's right, do something with them that makes them small enough to
wash at home therefore getting many more years of use out of them.
My
family refers to me as the princess and the pea. I can feel the
stitching that holds quilt filling in place – don't get me started
on some mattresses and their button covers. What mad man thought of that!
Anyhow,
a new mattress topper was needed. The king size quilt was laid on the
floor and the measurements for the mattress drawn out on top of it
including an extra inch for tacking and cutting. You need to tack
before you cut otherwise it's a bit unmanageable to sew on the
machine.
Before
it was cut I tacked 1/2” inside the line. OH had to
cut it as we have right handed scissors and I am left handed. We did
this on the ironing board to save our backs!
Four
hands also help for sewing so he held the weight of cut duvet until I
got enough through the machine then took up the slack to help 'pull'
it through whilst I concentrated on keeping my over-locking straight.
Being a winter quilt we were converting, it was like trying to
wrestle an anaconda through a keyhole :0)
The elastic that holds the cover in place on the mattress was still in good order on the old cover so was re-used on this one.
Also, a new strap had to be fashioned to be attached to the middle for running under the mattress before being tied in place to stop the cover moving in the middle.
I'm afraid I forgot to take a photograph of the finished article but you get the idea.
The stuffing from inside duvets can be kept for many quilting projects or cushion stuffing etc. I made an entire cot set including bumpers for our son from a single new quilt.
We have enough left over for me to eventually make a yoghurt quilt to keep it at the right temperature whilst 'brewing'. The rest is used to stop cold air from the attic dropping down whilst OH is up there doing jobs (for safety he also has a board underneath it in case you are wondering).
Draft excluder sausage dogs, place mats, feet warmers. All these and many more can be made from an old quilt but more importantly, they can now all be washed.
How's that for a bit of recycling!