“NO FAIR!”  My daughter was really jealous when her little brother got a set of Pottery Barn Star Wars sheets for his birthday a while back.  So we started looking for a set for her too.  She has a pink and green room, and we were hoping to get something that would at least sort of match.  After hours of searching online, we came up with….nothing.  I guess I was not really expecting anyone to sell pink Star Wars sheets, but I was really hoping for something gender-neutral like green, off-white or grey, but alas, nothing.

So we went to plan B: Making our own. We went to JoAnn to have a look-see. The fabric options were black, blue, more blue, dark blue and red, black and primary colors, black and white.  Lots of very cool fabrics but nothing feminine, or even neutral.  Then we found it: a bolt of all GREEN!  Blueprint style and full of glorious AT-ATs, AT-STs, Death Stars, Imperial Shuttles, TIE Bombers, TIE Fighters…and STAR WARS logos!  What more could a young girl possibly ask for? 🙂

     

Had the green fabric been wide enough, we would have made a comforter cover with just that fabric.  But since it wasn’t, and we would end up with a seems anyway, we decided to make it a quilt.  #1 and I got some girl bonding time and had a lot of fun finding fabrics that matched.  Several trips to JoAnn and an online order (to supplement with enough green polka dot fabric for the back), and we were ready to go.

And my girl could not be happier with the result!

Next step is making 2 pillow covers, and I will of course write a post about those as well, once they are done.

Needed:

• 35, 13.25” x 13.25” squares of cotton fabric (we used 6 different patterns)
• 66” x 92″ cotton fabric for the back (that includes a wee bit extra)
• Matching Thread
• Pins
• Good Scissors
• Rotary Cutter
• Quilting Ruler
• Self Healing Cutting Mat
• Sewing Machine

How To:

• Wash fabric in hot.
• Tumble dry in hot.
• Iron all fabric.
• Cut fabric into squares using rotary cutter and quilting ruler on the self-healing mat.  (I found if I cut strips first, then I put those on top of each other I could cut 3 layers of the squares at a time)
• Lay the squares on the floor, and play with the order until you are happy.  (We used a partially random pattern – see finished quilt at the end of post)

• Going down one column, one square at a time, pin and sew the squares together (face-to-face) into long strips (.25” wide seams).
  Make sure to zig-zag as well. (I zig-zagged them together after sewing. I know this is cheating a bit, but it works for me)
• Iron flat.
• Pin and sew the strips together (face-to-face). (again .25” seams) (zig-zag as well)
• If you can’t find a backer that is wide enough:
  Cut, pin and sew 2 pieces together (face-to-face). Iron.
• Pin and sew quilt and backer face-to face. leaving a 18” opening at the bottom.
• Hem the 2 sides of the opening.
• Turn right-side-out.
• Using a knitting needle or chopstick, poke the corners from the inside to get them nice and sharp.
• Iron.
• Insert the comforter, make the bed, and watch you daughter’s big giant smile!

Tips:

Our comforter cover ended up about 64″ x 89″.  Even though there is a standard size , that standard varies depending on who you ask, (66×90, 68×86, etc.), and lots of comforters vary from that even .  So I suggest you measure your comforter and size it to fit – that’s what we did.

Instead of cutting the large pieces (for the back), I find tearing (thin) pieces of fabric works better to make sure the edges are straight.  Make a little starter cut, then tear the rest.

Important Note!  I am by no means suggesting that girls do not want, or shouldn’t get blue Star Wars sheets.  Lots of girls love blue! My daughter, if we were painting her room today, would prefer a blue room, with matching linens.  But since we are stuck (at least for the time being) with the color scheme she chose a few years ago, we had to get creative.

Get Supplies:

• One of the good things about JoAnn is they get new things all the time, but that also means that things don’t stay around for long.  So I can’t find any of our fabrics there anymore.  They have other Star Wars fabrics, but don’t go online, their store selection (at least at their larger stores) is much bigger.   Amazon has an even a larger Star Wars Fabric selection (but it is of course much more fun to buy fabric in person).
• Good Scissors
• Rotary Cutter
• Quilting Ruler
• Self Healing Cutting Mat
• Sewing Machine
• The bed, as well as the table and chairs are from IKEA (2010). (FYI, the bed has been redesigned, and the other things are no longer sold)
• The Plush Clone Wars Yoda is from Target (2007). But it looks like they discontinued it.  Try Amazon instead: Plush Yoda.
• Curtains: the sheers are from IKEA and the drapes are hand-made by M4P Mom with fabric from JoAnn (2011).
• The dresser is old and hand made.
• Most of the pillows and other quilts are purchased from Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Home Goods at random times in the past few years.
• The pink rug is hand-woven by M4P Mom.
• The wooden dessert tray was a gift, and I am not sure where it is from.
• And if you want to BUY sheets, I am happy to say both Pottery Barn Kids and Amazon now have bed linens that are dark grey, or contain A LOT of white… but still nothing green, purple or pink!
  Pottery Barn Star Wars sheets
  Amazon Star Wars Sheets