DIY Ruffle Coverlet

First of all, I am still pretty new to sewing. I started about a month ago, but I have thrown myself into it. I may not have done things exactly the way the pro's may have (this involved some guessing on my part), but it worked!

I wanted to have ruffles on the edges on the coverlet I bought:

I LOVE this coverlet and if you like it you can find one on ebay:

http://www.ebay.comhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/321106034290

Or you can use a coverlet of your choosing.

Now, I bought a ruffler foot and 2mm hemmer foot so I could actually make all the ruffles myself, but since I am still so new to this I got overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of how many ruffles I would have to make, not to mention how much material I would need since I have a king size bed. So I cheated.
I bought this bedskirt from walmart for $38, although the price has gone up to $45 now for a king.  You can do a pick up in store or free delivery since it is $45.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Multi-Ruffle-Bed-Skirt/19888372

Or if you buy from Wayfair through Walmart the price is $31+$8.97 so that is now the better deal
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Greenland-Home-Fashions-Multi-Ruffle-Bedskirt/20519563?findingMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems

I cut the top part of the bedskirt that goes over the mattress (being careful not to cut the seams) and left the ruffles.

I then had a long strip of ruffles. Hold a section up to your coverlet to see how far past your coverlet edge (if at all) you want your ruffles to fall. I chose to have my ruffles longer than my coverlet, so they were about 9 1/2" from the edge of the coverlet on the two sides. The bottom measurement varied slightly. Make sure to measure from the edge of your coverlet when you have found where you want your ruffles to start.

I found it best to lay out your coverlet flat on the floor for marking and pinning. You need a ruler and  a chalk pen to mark where you are going to pin your ruffles, marking about a hands width apart. A yardstick is great to so you can make sure you're marks are fairly straight (remember they may not be be absolutely straight since your coverlet may not be completely straight on the floor, so don't stress if there is a tiny difference, the yardstick is mostly just to make sure you didn't accidentally make a wrong mark).

I found marking and pinning the two sides first better and then seeing what measurement the fabric naturally wanted to be on the bottom.

After you have pinned all your fabric you might want to put it on your bed to make sure all the ruffles have been pinned right. If all looks good, head to the sewing machine!

I have a Janome DC2012 sewing machine, and decided to use the Even feed walking foot, since it was supposed to be the best foot (or the best foot I had) for thicker material. It looks like this:

Now this part was some work. Since the fabric is heavy I had to help pull the fabric out the back of the foot and of course guide it in front to keep it straight. Make sure your extra ruffles and fabric are all pulled to the right so they don't jam the machine. Of course make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end a your sewing, but you guys already know this.

After I had sewed it all (and yes, resewed a couple little spots), I pressed the seams and threw it in the wash (and yes, I'm a germaphobe), and put it on my bed. And here it is!

You can have just the coverlet...

 Or add a duvet!

Stay tuned for how I built my own cutting/storage table! :)