Bartering is not dead

How do I know this? Well, I recently traded my sewing services with a designer friend of mine to get a new Milkybeer logo designed. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

Our deal was that Kelly would design the new logo and banner for Milkybeer (to be revealed at a later date) and I would make a new duvet cover for her son, Sacha. You see, at the time, Kelly was pregnant with #2 and needed to upgrade Sacha to a big boy bed.

Much to Kelly's chagrin, Sacha requested a race car theme for his big boy bedroom. Now, I don't know if you've ever looked at race car fabric, but it reminds me of something you would see in the 1980s. It's like no fabric designer has managed to come up with a modern version of the race car theme (or if they have, I haven't seen it yet). So, after an hour or so of browsing the options at Fabricana, we settled on a multi-coloured polk-a-dot, solid aqua (thank you Kona!).

As a concession to Sacha, we threw in a street sign-themed flannel. Street signs...they're just as good as race cars, aren't they?

The flannel was strategically placed along the top edge of the cover, on both sides, so that it would be nice and soft on Sacha's face. I stitched it right over top of the main fabrics so that down the road, it could be removed if he ever outgrows his taste for all things automotive.

Personally, I hate it when the duvet manages to work its way out at the bottom, so I used buttons to close up the opening. Aren't the buttons Kelly chose cute?

Since the magic sewing fairy has yet to deliver my very own serger, I am left finding other ways to finish my seams so that they don't fray. Yet again I opted for French seams. As lovely as French seams are, on a project of this scale, they essentially double the work involved since you have to run each seam through the machine not once, but twice...plus, you have to trim off the seam allowance in between. A tonne of work, but it's the best way I've found to finish my seams without a serger.

If you're in the market to make your own duvet cover, check out this handy dandy tutorial from the folks over at Design*Sponge. This is basically the pattern I followed with a few deviations. The tips they include are great and the pictures are oh-so-helpful!

Word has it that Sacha is loving his new duvet cover...and just in time! Kelly welcomed her second son, Rhys, on Friday!