SARALISA meets VANVIK

Materials: VANVIK bed (full), SARALISA, MINNA, & DITTE yard fabric, cording for piping, velcro, sewing machine, electic staple gun, and hours of measuring, pinning, and sewing!

Description: A few years ago, IKEA released the VANVIK bed frame featuring curved black metal legs, adorned by a slipcover featuring the LEABY black & white floral print that was originally introduced in the EKTORP slipcover. I immediately fell in love with this bed, and was fortunate enough to purchase the floor model at the end of it's existence in the IKEA range. Sadly this version is now discontinued, but its sister version in white with a tailored bed skirt is still available. The curved lines, and the metal feet were the qualities that initially attracted my liking to this piece of furniture. The black and white floral print however, what not so much my taste.



After doing some measuring, since I purchased the full size version, I quickly realized that it would be possible for me to make a new slipcover without having to piece any fabric across the width of the headboard. Most IKEA fabric measures 59" in width, which ended up working out perfectly since the headboard is 56 1/4" in width- leaving me plenty of room for seam allowance on both sides.

To give the sides of the headboard a more finished look, I sewed piping along the edges of the SARALISA fabric. The trickiest part was doing the sides of the headboard. I had to trace a pattern on newspaper to cut the side pieces, and left about 2 extra inches just in case.

I then placed the fabric inside out, and pinned it over the headboard until I had a fit to my liking. Removing the fabric was tricky, I had to do it very slowly since I needed a tight fit and didn't want any of the pins to fall out. I ran the slipcover through the sewing machine, and had to tear out seams in a few places and re-sew until I got the look that I wanted.

This entire process took about two weeks of 3 hour sessions. Lastly, I removed the velcro from the original cover and sewed it around the the bottom of the slipcover as I did my final finishing seams.

The bed sides were the easy part- after being so worn out from making headboard slipcover, I kind of "cheated" and decided to staple gun the fabric pieces directly to the frame itself. I didn't do any sewing for this part- I just turned the fabric under at each end of the bed side, and had to do some cutting to accommodate the corners and the feet.

Pulling the fabric very tight, I started at the headboard and slowly worked my way down the foot of the bed, doing the sides first and the footboard last. This whole project was definitely an experience- and a full time job! I am so happy that I did it because I love my bed which now has a unique custom look to it. For anyone who is ambitious enough to try it on their own- make sure you have the bed frame assembled before you begin to try anything- it is the only way you will ensure you have the right fit!

~ Jessica B., Philadelphia Suburbs