I’m looking around for a new bedspread, and I’m having trouble finding one that fits my requirements.
I want a colorful bedspread with an irregular design, and not a lot of white in it. The reason is that I don’t want any stains to be very visable.
My current bedspread is an awesome crazy one from, I think, 1997 (Bed Bath & Beyond)? If I could I’d get a double of it, but I think they discontinue designs from year to year, and I have no way of searching for it on Google. Anyway, it’s currently stained, torn, and showing its age, and I must sadly look for a new one.
All the websites I’ve looked at aren’t helping much. Most of them are solid or mostly solid, pastel, regularly patterned, lots of white, or just boring in general. (There are a few that would have worked if they weren’t red. I hate red). Is there any place I can find a collection of funky bedspreads to look at?
I found this at Overstock.com. Is this in the ballpark? It also comes in shades of blue. (I realize it’s a comforter, not a bedspread, but people sometimes use those terms interchangeably.)
Oh man, I’m hating the selection of comforters recently too. I want a nice print, funky but not boring, that will go with the bright yellow walls in my bedroom and hide dog hair (springer spaniels, so both light and dark hair). Somebody suggested fake fur, ha ha ha.
How ambitious are you feeling? A few years back, I needed work clothes that wouldn’t show stains or bleach marks, so I went back to my childhood hippie worship days and tie dyed a bunch of stuff. This has evolved into a household of tie dyed sheets, table cloths, and couch covers, and I’m currently branching out into batik-type techniques…I’ve not done a bedspread yet but I’m sure that will happen eventually. I’d be glad to provide further advice if you want to go this route, or perhaps you could find someone in your area or online who can do a tie dye/batik item to more or less your specifications.
My apologies if this is not at all what you meant by funky.
I was going to suggest anthropologie.com, but they are only slightly less expensive. Maybe find something you like from a popular retailer and try ebay?
Can you get away with putting a new cover on an existing quilt/comforter?
Check out Ikea and look up duvet covers.
Many of theirs are sub-$50 and some are strongly patterned.
Oh, that’s a nice design. In case you want to investigate the DIY route, www.dharmatrading.com is a really nice company to do business with. They sell dyes and all the applicable chemicals.
Some things to consider:
Your to-be-dyed spread will need to be 100% cotton (or as close to 100% as you can get it) or silk. To get the clear colors I think you want, you need to use dyes for natural fibers. (Rit Dye–the kind that comes in a box and gets cooked on top of the stove–is more for synthetics and has a limited color range tending toward the chalky.)
You also want to choose a spread that isn’t padded or quilted. In other words, you don’t want a comforter, but a removable comforter cover would be doable.
And the spread needs to be white or some other pale color. I realize that seems rather obvious, but I have had people tell me excitedly that they just bought a tie dye kit and a red t-shirt to tie dye.
You’ll need a suitable work area. I use my bathtub for dyeing large items. On the other hand, my bathtub is harvest gold and I don’t really care about any faint aqua stains, but your situation may be different. Some people use their washing machine, but it would probably need to be their own. The local coin laundry might object to you throwing dye and soda ash in their machines. (I have washed newly-dyed stuff in coin laundries, though. If you’ve rinsed enough and use cold water, there shouldn’t be any staining.)
The very basic supplies you will need will include the dye powders; urea (which is used to keep the newly-dyed item damp during the several hours it will take for the dye to set); soda ash (the fixative for cotton, also available at pool supply locations) or vinegar (the fixative often used for silk, but not for cotton for some physics-y reason); spray or squirt bottles for applying the dye; and things like latex gloves and sheets of plastic. A good tie dye kit will include many of these items. I believe Dharma will allow you to put together customs kits so you get the specific dye colors you want.
Anyway, this is just sort of an overview to help you decide whether this would be a blast or a huge mistake.
