Simple Tufted Headboard

Tufted upholstery adds a rich, luxurious feel to any piece, even a simple head board.  Official upholstery techniques for deep tufting can be quite complicated, but here's a simple way you can get the look with a lot more ease:


TOOLS & MATERIALS:

- 1/2 inch sheet of plywood cut to size (width of bed x desired height)
- 2 inch thick piece of dense foam cut to size of plywood
- Quilt batting (enough to wrap around plywood and foam)
- Desired fabric (enough to wrap around plywood, foam and quilt batting - fabric with a bit of sheen looks best, but has to be thick/strong enough to handle the upholstering process)
- 1x6 piece of lumber (at least 6 feet long)
- 2 inch long wood screws
- 2 inch long anchoring wood nails
- Staple gun and staples
- Measuring tape / ruler
- 4, 1/4 inch thick by 2 inch long bolts with wing-nuts
- Fabric scissors
- Fabric covered button kit and buttons
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Hammer
- Nail punch
- Fabric marking pen


PROCEDURE:

Step 1:  Cut quilt batting to be about six inches longer on all sides than your cut plywood. Lay out quilt batting on a clean, flat surface (probably floor).  Place foam in center of quilt batting, place plywood on top of foam.  Ensure everything's properly aligned, then firmly pull quilt batting around to the back of the plywood and tack in place with a staple gun around all edges.

*Tip*
To avoid extra bunchiness around the corners, cut a square out of the quilt batting at each of the corners (an inch or so from the plywood) before folding the corners in and tacking in place.

When finished, foam should be securely fastened to the plywood by the quilt-batting:

Step 2:  Cut fabric to size (larger than your piece of quilt batting by about an inch or so), iron, and place on a clean flat surface (probably floor), right side down.  Place padded plywood in center of fabric, padded side down. As with the quilt batting, cut out corners and firmly pull fabric around to the back of the plywood and secure entire length of edges with staple gun.  Carefully fold in and tack corners as neatly as possible.

You really want to pull this as tightly as you can, so that the right-side surface of the headboard will be as smooth and taunt as possible:

Step 3: Figure out the desired spacing of your tufts by dividing the length and width of your headboard with the number of tufts you wish to have. Make sure you have it measured correctly so that tufted pattern will be equally distributed across the headboard.  Configure your tufted pattern (should look like a 4 point diamond) on paper, and then carefully measure and mark pattern onto the right side of your headboard.

*Tip* 
Take your time with this - make your mistakes on paper, and don't mark fabric until you are positive about what you need to do.

Step 4: Beginning with the middle row working out, place an anchoring nail at each marked point, and secure nail to plywood with hammer, sink in with a nail punch  - be careful not to sink the nail in too far, or it will go through the plywood.

Step 5: Cover enough buttons of desired size with fabric to cover each nail-head in each tuft.  Secure buttons to nail heads in tufts with a strong adhesive.

My first go with this I attempted to use hot-glue because it sets quickly, but I would probably reccommend something stronger.

*Tip*
To extend the life and look of your headboard you may want at this point to treat it with Scotch Guard or another fabric protectant.  Test on a sample of fabric before hand, and follow the instructions on the can.


Step 6:  Cut 1x6 piece of lumber into 2 lengths of desired height for headboard (about 3ft high).  Measure and mark where to drill appropriate 1/4" holes which will be used with bolts and wing nuts to secure head-board to bed-rail.  Drill holes.

Step 7: Measure and mark where the top of the 1x6 length will be fastened to the headboard.  Drill about 6 holes.  Place 1x6 lengths on either side of the head board (according to measurments in order to make it fit with your bed-rail) and secure tops to back of headboard with wood screws where you drilled your 6 holes.

Step 8:  Position head-board on bed, and tightly secure bottom of 1x6s to bed-rail with 1/4" bolts and wing nuts where your 1/4" holes are drilled.  Enjoy!

Christmas Special

Looking for an original Christmas gift that's sure to please?  Custom design plans from Metz Interiors starting from $75/space! (Lethbridge and area only) Contact Abby at metzinteriors@gmail.com to book a free consultation!

DIY: Ruffled Throw

*THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PERSONAL, NOT COMMERCIAL, OR RE-SALE PURPOSES*

This ruffled throw design is the intellectual property of Abby Metz.  Please contact Metz Interiors if you are interested in purchasing licensing rights for this design.

I recently finished a bedroom makeover that included this ruffled throw I designed for the foot of the bed which I absolutely loved!  It added great texture, colour and interest to the room.  While not expensive or complicated to make, it did take hoards of fabric, thread, time and patience!  Here's how I did it:

Materials:
To make 2.5' wide, 9' long throw (enough for decorative foot of queen-sized bed), if you want to make a full bedspread, you will need much more:

- 2 King - sized sheets
- 4 spools of thread (or more)


Procedure: 
(There are a few ways to do this, I'll describe the fastest/easiest way and give suggestions for more finished alternate versions)

1) Cut 2.5' (+ enough for hem) wide strip from bottom of 1 king sized sheet to use as base:

2) Cut the rest of the length of the material into 6 inch strips:


3) Join 2 strips together.  Hem ends and 1 side of the length of the strip.  Repeat until all the strips are joined and hemmed.


4) Gather strip along unfinished edge.  Pin to bottom of base.  Evenly distribute gathered strip along the length of the base - sew in place.

5) Repeat step 4, overlapping the gathered strips by 1/3 to 1/2 until base is covered, leaving at least 1 inch for top hem.

6) Hem top edge, and celebrate finally being done!

Alternate options:

1) Step 4: pin and sew gathered strip in such a way so that when the ruffled is flipped over into correct position, messy edge attatched to the base of the fabric is hidden underneath the ruffle.

2) Step 3: Hem both sides of the strip and proceed with the rest of the instructions for a more finished look.

3) Step 1: cut material base into 5 inch strips.
    Step 4: sew gathered strip in-between 2 flat strips from the base. Repeat until all strips are joined.
    Step 6: finish with a lining to hide messy underside.

*This way would be ideal if you want to make something larger like a duvet cover.*

OR . . .

If you don't want to spend the time and energy to make one for yourself, I would LOVE to make one for you!  Check out my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/metzinteriors