DIY Ruffled Fabric Headboard

Add a feminine touch to your bedroom with this sweetly ruffled headboard. Pick a fabric that suits your bedroom's style and start ruffling. 

• 1/4-inch plywood cut to desired size of headboard (Ours is 54x40 inches.)
• 1x4s cut to create a frame for the plywood
• Screws
• Drill
• 6 yards 44-45-inch fabric (for ruffles)
• Spray adhesive suitable for upholstery
• Quilt batting cut to the size of your plywood, plus 6 inches on all sides
• 3 yards 44-45-inch fabric or 2 yards 54-inch fabric (to cover headboard)
• Staple gun
• Straight pins
• Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
• French cleats 
• Straight-sided purchased skirt + additional fabric (for the matching bed skirt, optional)

Step 1:

Secure the plywood to the 1x4 frame using screws so a 1-inch edge of each board touches the plywood. 

Step 2:

Tear the fabric for ruffles into nine 6×108-inch strips and one 4x108-inch strip (pictured). (Cut about an inch for each strip, then rip the fabric the rest of the way.)

Spray the front of the plywood with spray adhesive and secure the batting in place, wrapping it around the sides. Staple it to the back of the frame (pictured).

Cover the batting with the headboard fabric. Wrap it around the sides, pulling tightly and stapling in place on the back of the frame (pictured). If you use 44-45-inch fabric as we did, you may have to cut and join two pieces to make the fabric wide enough.

Lay one strip of fabric along the bottom of the headboard and fold one ruffle about 3 inches wide. 

(Step 5 is continued on the next slide.)

Step 5 (continued):

We made 18 ruffles to cover our headboard, pinning in place. When satisfied with the fit, staple along the top edge and remove pins. 

Step 6

Place subsequent rows of ruffles to cover about 2 inches of the top of the previous row to hide the staples. Repeat Step 5 with the remaining eight 6-inch strips. Fray the exposed edges of the ruffles if desired.

Use the 4-inch strip for the final ruffle row. Fold the top raw edge under for a finished look (pictured).

(Step 7 is continued on the next slide.)

Repeat Step 5 to make the ruffles, except use hot glue under the top edge of each ruffle fold for a clean edge (pictured).

To hang, use French-cleat-style brackets and appropriate screws for your walls (not pictured).

Optional: To make the bed skirt, use the same ruffling method as for the headboard, only pin and sew each strip of ruffles in place onto a straight-sided purchased skirt (pictured).