Patchwork Padded Headboard

This is a beautiful project. I am so pleased with our patchwork padded headboard. And it’s really not that hard to create. In all honesty, the hardest part is getting the sums right at the start. Figuring out how much fabric and wood you need is the most challenging bit. And if you are like me, and find numbers give you a headache, you will need to take your time and revisit it until you are sure you have figured it out correctly. Don’t rush this bit. Ask a friend to check your workings. It might be a pain to start with, but it’s totally worth it in the end.

Calculations

Before we get started, we need to figure out how big your patchwork padded headboard will be and how much material you will need.

Start by figuring out how big you’d like your headboard. We have bedside tables which, when placed either side of the bed, conveniently measure the same as a standard 2.4m mdf sheet (or thereabouts). Sitting the standard sheet just above the skirting board gave us a good overall height to our headboard above the mattress, so we could get away with using a standard 2.4 x 1.2 m mdf sheet. We could have used a smaller height and put it a bit further up the wall so there wasn’t so much below. the level of the bed. But getting a custom cut sheet was more expensive than the standard, so we opted for the cheaper option.

Another consideration will be how many squares you can fit across a sheet. You don’t want to see the backing mdf on either side, so your squares will need to fit across and from top to bottom. Don’t forget to allow a little bit extra for the fabric.

This is how we calculated ours.

A 2.4×1.2 sheet fitted nicely behind our bed. We settled on squares that were 15cm across as they fitted our sheet. That worked out to about 16 squares the width of the headboard (with a little allowance for fabric), and 8 high.

Realistically we probably won’t need squares beneath the level of the bed, but decided to make sure they went behind the bedside tables.

That works out to a total of 104 squares.

Okay, so now we know how many squares we will need to cover our headboard.

We will need this many 6mm mdf squares cut. If you have the tools to cut them yourself (or a friend to help you out), great! This will be your cheapest option. If not, then timber yards will be able to cut them for you. Shop around and see which will give you the best price.

Now for the fabric and wadding

For our 15cm squares, I cut 25cm squares from our upholstery fabric so that I had plenty of fabric to wrap around the mdf square. Have a look at your upholstery fabric and find the width. Calculate how many squares you can get out of a width of fabric. Then divide this number by your total to work our how many stripes you will need.

For example:

Upholstery fabric is generally 145cm wide. Your fabric squares need to be 25cm wide, so you will get 5 out of one width :
(width of fabric/width of square = 145/25=5.8. You can’t have 0.8 of a square, so we round it down to 5).

With these measurements you will need 21 widths to get enough fabric to cover all of your squares:
(number of squares/squares in one width = 104/5=20.8, rounded up to 21).

To get enough to cover all of the 104 squares you need for the entire headboard you will need 5.25m of fabric:
(number of widths x the height of the squares = 21×25=525).

Apologies. if I’m teaching you to suck eggs with these sums. Numbers are not my forte, so I’m taking you through it slowly incase they are not yours either!

This is the total of all your fabric. If you are hoping to use a few different colours or designs, divide this among them however you wish. You might prefer more of one fabric over another. So long as you have enough to make your squares, it is up to you.

Calculate the wadding in much the same way as the fabric. But you will need squares the same size as your wood. The wadding doesn’t wrap around like the fabric does.

When you are happy with how much fabric you need, and you have purchased the patterns and colours you will need, you can start cutting your squares. I recommend using a cutting mat and a rotary cutting wheel for this. Using the guides on the mat and a steel ruler will save you a lot of time and make your life so much easier. Particularly if you have a lot of squares to cut. That said, you can use scissors and a template or marker to mark where you need to cut. Do what works best for you.

Making your padded squares

Excellent. So you should have all of your fabric, wood and wadding squares cut and ready to put together. You’ve done the hard work. Your patchwork padded headboard is going to come together quickly now.

Lay your fabric on you work surface right side down (wrong side up). Lay 2 squares of wadding roughly in the centre, then a wooden square on top of those. You should have an overhang of around 5cm all the way around your square. Pull the overhang furthest away from you up and over the wooden square put a couple of staples in to hold it in place. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to pull the fabric nice and tight before stapling. Repeat on the other 2 sides.

Finally staple down the fabric in each corner to finish it off.

Congratulations. You have made your first padded square. Just 103 to go! It might seem like a bit of an insurmountable task, but you get into a bit of a rhythm, and they are all done in no time.

Constructing your patchwork padded headboard

Figure out where you would like your headboard, and attach it to the wall using suitable fixings. We were attaching it to a brick wall, so used 3 masonry fixings across the top, and 3 at the bottom.

Using hot glue, attach the remaining squares to your headboard. Be sure to push them into their neighbour (in both directions). From the top corner, work down and across, choosing the patterns as you go. You can lay them out and decide on which colours will go where before you start if you like. I have tried both ways, and find it easier just to make it up as I go along. I completed my project in several sittings, so didn’t have the space to leave the squares laid out in order. Do what works best for you.

So that our headboard could be easily removed if needed, we decided to velcro the squares that would hide the screws. If you would like to make your headboard easily removable as well, stick some strong velcro to the back of your square, and attach that to the backing board. If you need to remove the headboard, simply remove the squares that have velcro and unscrew the board from the wall. Please be careful though, your headboard will be very heavy.