white tutorialS- polka dot quilt and polka dot playroom

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Today we are DOUBLE-Y lucky to have not one, but two, fabulous guests (and not one, but two, amazing white projects). Kristen and Allison from Lullaby Lubbock are some of our best girls. They throw parties like it’s their job (check out this Roaring 20s party, and this Candyland party! Also, I cannot get over the fabulousness of the box-turned-ice-cream-truck at this Ice Cream Party?!?!), they are guru’s when it comes to life-with-kids (Allison’s reward jar has been quite the effective system for Burke), and their creativity (and t-shirt making) is boundless. Also, Jord knows (and loves) these girls in real life (they all lived in Lubbock together- they’ve all moved since then, though)- she always says they were some of those rare souls that ‘got her’ creatively. Fun fact- the Anthro-Inspired Duvet pictures were taken in Allison’s (former) guest room. Yep, we’re tight like that.

These girls went above and beyond for their white tutorials- not only do we have a white quilt tutorial for today (before you get scared off by the word ‘quilt,’ it looks beginner-quilter-friendly), we also have a white polka dot paint tutorial-

We could not be more excited to be here at kojodesigns and be apart of Color My Summer II!!

Woo Hoo!

Thank you Kirstin and Jordan for having us!

We still cannot get over the fact that we are a part of this group of such amazing bloggers!

Even though we are miles away from each other we are always on the same page.  We both talked about what we wanted to do for this series and had lots of ideas.  When we finally settled on them they ended up both involving polka dots- just in different places. I like to think great minds think alike :)One of our favorite things about summer is picnics.  We have picnics and tea parties all the time in our yard or at the park. One of my favorite things is seeing tiny hands serving each other in tiny cups using their grown-up manners.  So precious.

Needless to say, I knew this quilt would get a lot of miles out of it.

To break it in, my twins and I grabbed some donuts, milk and our new white quilt and headed out to have a little Polka Dot Picnic.

a good one

ben and sass in forest

smiling and smirking

donuts2

ben and sass smiling

Powdered Sugar smiles are the sweetest 🙂

sassy smiling

donuts with layers

sassy drinking milk

quilt on gate folded2

This quilt was so super easy and anyone can do it.

first layer of quilt on ground

My quilt back side is just a white cotton fabric from my local fabric store.

I could not find a way to get the fabric to stay in place so I grabbed some duct tape and taped it to the floor.  I am sure there are much more professional ways to go about this, but the duct tape worked like a charm.

first layer of quilt onthe ground with duct tape

duct tape corner

Then I layed a twin batting on top of the white fabric.
I picked up one side of batting and sprayed some spray adhesive, layed the batting back down and let it dry.  Then I did the same on the other side.

three layers of quilt on ground

I just loved the spray adhesive.  I used Krylon Easy Tack.  I know that traditionally you are supposed to pin your quilt, but the spray did the trick so perfectly. It kind of changed my life.

three layers of quilt

To sew it together I started by sewing around all of the edges to make sure it wouldn’t shift.

Then I sewed parallel, perpendicular and diagonal all over the quilt.  Anywhere that I wanted a line, I made it. It is so freeing to be able to sew however you want and make it look however you want.

quilt wout binding

quilt without binding

Then it was time for the binding.

I started by making my own bias tape.

I cut strips on the bias and then sewed them together by laying them perpendicular to each other and then sewing them together diagonally at the corner.

continuous binding2

continuous bias tape

Once you lay it out flat it makes a straight line with a diagonal seam.

continuous binding3

Then it was time to get this binding bound.

sewing binding3

I started by sewing on the white side of the fabric and just laying my bias tape on top of the white fabric.  I used a 5/8 in seam and sewed up until a couple of inches from the corner.

sewing binding4

Next, I sewed off of the quilt.

sewing binding5

I folded the binding the opposite direction of the quilt and then back over on top of the quilt while keeping it tact together with my finger.

folding binding

folding binding2

Then I began sewing again down the folded binding.

Once you turn the binding over and begin on the opposite side you have a perfectly folded corner.

I used this tutorial to guide me through.

corner bound

Once I had bound the entire white side, I folded the binding over and ironed (or folded again) the binding underneath itself and bound the other side of the quilt.

sewing binding7

And there you have it!

Easy peasy!

Thank you Kirstin and Jordan for letting us be a part of such a colorful and fun series!

quilt folded on wooden gate2

From one polka dot to another . . . 

last week my girls started sharing a room. I think it’s so sweet that they get to have sister sleepover every night. Not too mention an extra bedroom freed up. I love that we can now have an official playroom! (and maybe a little craft nook too) There is no rhyme or reason to the play room quite yet. It’s basically just every toy we own thrown into one small square room.

After seeing these polka dots on pinterest, I began brain storming for the the playroom. I loved the big, bold and crisp look that the white polka dots gave the room. After looking more into it I realized that her polka dots were not painted on, they were peel off wall decals. Then after realizing the cost of buying that many polka dots, I began brainstorming on how to paint my own big, bold and crisp polka dots.
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I measured the length of the wall and cut a piece of brown butcher paper the length of half of the wall. I started with the whole length but the paper was too big and heavy to work with so I cut it in half. I used a 13 inch lamp shade for my circle stencil.
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Each polka dot was spaced by 2 inches horizontal and vertically. I used an exacto knife to cut out every other circle and then staggered one over for the row underneath.
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I started at the top corner of the wall. I used a few thumb tacks to help hold it in place.
I pulled my paint brush from the outside in of each polka dot. This helped keep my paint from leaking under the stencil paper.
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Before removing the stencil, mark a line from where the bottom of the stencil is. You will use this line to match up the top of the stencil when you tape it down for the second set of dots. There was a 1 inch space at the top and bottom of my stencil so when you connect the top stencil to the line marked from the bottom, you have 2 inches in between the dots. (how confusing do I sound?!)
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DSC_1490Then you repeat again.
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Once that side of the wall is finished, line up your stencil to finish the other side. I flipped the stencil horizontally to keep from having a partial dot in the middle of the wall. But that creates another problem with the stagger by putting the two dots on the second row right next to each other.  To fix that problem I flipped the stencil horizontally but then moved it back left to overlap one polka dot. Lastly, I had to move the stencil over one more time to finish out my dots evenly.DSC_1495DSC_1512
After everything was dry, I went over the dots with a second coat.
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I’m loving the Polka Dot Playroom! Now I can’t wait to work on the sewing nook that my husband made for me in the old closet! Maybe I could paint big bold stripes in there…Thank you so much again Kirstin and Jordan for letting us be a part of this summer series!
Love these girls and their white projects! For more WHITE goodness, head on over to delia’s for a white serged chenille blanket!

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12 Comments

  1. You are just the sweetest Kirstin! You are so so talented and we are honored to be on your blog today! Thank you for letting us be apart of this series!

  2. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I recently rescued an old wooden bunk set from the garbage and it was green, rather then re-painting the whole thing. I was going to go over it with purple polka dots for my one daughter on one bunk and pink vertical stripes on the other bunk for my other daughter, SO this helped me brainstrom on how to do it!

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