Back in June, DD1 graduated from middle school and as her gift, DH and I decided we’d redo her bedroom.  And it just made sense that I’d be sewing what could be sewn, like the sheers and the bed canopy.  (I drew the line at the duvet and pillow covers.) Except that upholstery and I aren’t very well acquainted.

We live in a very small 3 bedroom bungalow, and have no intention of moving either up or down for the next 50 years or so.  This is a good and a bad thing.  Good because I have all the time in the world to renovate and update; bad because, well, with three daughters, it’s pretty small.  Especially with one washroom on the main floor.  This is the first room to be redone.

With the help of a designer (because I’m beyond a dud as an interior decorator), we’re slowly pulling a new look together, part of which was this bed canopy.  It’s basically a long length of fabric draped over the ceiling mounted brackets, as you can see in the photo below.

DD1’s bed is a full-size bed, which is bigger than a twin, but smaller than a queen sized bed.  The finished canopy measures 53″ wide and 14′ 5″ long (1.35 x 4.5 m).  The turn back at the foot of the bed is 35″ deep.  The fabric was 60″ wide, so I divided the extra width by two and that became my hem allowance down the sides.  My hem allowance for the headboard drape is  4 inches.  I cut the lining 2 inches narrower than the finished width, stitched it right sides together, turned it right side out and .  Both the turn back and the hem at the headboard were hand stitched to the lining.

Now we’re just waiting for DD1 to choose about 7 pieces of art for the bare wall, hang her pointe shoes above her bedside table, get the electrician to move the overhead light to about where I stood to take the picture for a bloom pendant  and add some sort of tall, narrow vanity-ish lighting so she can put her makeup on in her room instead of monopolizing the bathroom.