As they designed their dorm room, neither one of them saw what is "available" at the store as a limitation to have the room they could create. For example, a store bought bed skirt is usually around 13" long. The girls wanted to be able to set the dorm beds at their highest setting so that they could use the space under the beds for storage. Since they both have allergy issues making dust is a problem, our custom bed skirts enclose all four sides of the bed to keep as much dust at bay as possible. Using sheets as fabric was our most economical option to meet our fabric needs and have two matching skirts. By using three flat twin sheets from a box store the custom bed skirts cost under $15 each. Preshrinking the sheets before using them as fabric is essential for not only shrinking but also to remove and chemicals that will stop the paint from making full contact with the fibers. .
These two girls have many things in common, including their first name but one of the places they differ is their favorite color and they actually dislike the color that is the other ones favorite so the decorating scheme became an exercise in compromise. Trying to find matching comforters that included both of their favorite colors turned out to be impossible. Our next step was to find comforters at a bargain price and then we would make duvet covers ... thinking that we would find a fabric with the colors we wanted, in a pattern they both approved... wrong...our next move became making our own fabric. Since the project took longer than we anticipated, the painted fabric became a bed cover and may turn into duvet covers on their first vacation.
