There is something about an eiderdown that is uniquely comforting. Their substantiality and weight seem to compel rest upon you. They were called continental quilts in my childhood years and I remember very clearly the process of making my bed. Sheets top and bottom (sometimes not the pale ones of my dreams), two pillows, a green woollen blanket with the lovely satin edge and then, on the cold nights, the continental quilt and matching frilled cushion.

Sadly, eiderdowns are a product of yore and therefore hard to find. The other solution is, of course, to make one and these are as close to the real thing as I think you can make at home.

Home Sewn by Cassandra Ellis is published by Kyle Books and costs €29.50 from www.eason.ie, other stockists may vary. Cassandra Ellis is a designer and maker of high-end quilts and homewares. Originally from New Zealand, she now runs her own design studio where she teaches contemporary craft and interiors workshops. Her stunning designs are stocked by leading retailers, including Liberty of London, and she works directly with clients on commissions and interior design projects.

You will need:

1 Single 140 x 200cm feather and down duvet. There are different tog weights available – the higher the number, the thicker and heavier the eiderdown will be. If possible, try to buy one that is sectioned in grids, not rows.

2 Around 4.5m of light to medium-weight cotton or linen fabric, at least 1.2m wide. If you are using a narrower width, then add extra for joining, as required. If you want to use a different fabric on each side, you’ll need 2.1m of one and 2.4m of the other (the second fabric being used for flat piping). To add even more detail, you can use a third fabric for the piping, so reduce and add fabric lengths accordingly.

3 Matching cotton thread.

4 Matching quilting thread.

5 A small scrap of leather or thick woollen cloth.

6 An iron with the steam option.

7 Pins and fabric scissors.

8 Safety pins.

9 Long ruler or quilter’s ruler.

10 Tailor’s chalk or a dressmaker’s pencil.

11 Sewing machine.

12 Darning needle.

Let’s get started

1 Wash, dry and press the fabric. Cut two pieces at 142 x 202cm. If you need to join fabric to create the required width, it’s useful to plan the join to line up with the duvet joins. They are straight lines or grids. I used a grid-based duvet, so I took these measurements and made sure the join line of the fabric matched up to this line. If this seems maddeningly difficult, don’t worry. Press any seams.

2 Cut the remainder of the fabric into 3cm strips. Sew the strips together end to end, until you have a piece at least 7m in length. Fold the strip in half to create 1.5cm-wide flat piping and press with a steam iron.

3 Pin the flat piping to the right side of one of the flat panels, raw edge to raw edge. Leave about 5-10cm of the piping strip free. Using your sewing machine, baste stitch the piping to the panel, approximately 5mm in. Ease the strip around the corners. When you get near the beginning, backstitch and remove from the sewing machine. Trim the excess piping, leaving around 1cm. Fold and pin the piping under itself and slipstitch down. Press flat.

4 Pin the two panels right sides together. Sew them together, starting 30cm in from the end of one of the short edges. When you reach this short edge again, sew along it to 30cm from the corner. This will leave a gap for you to feed the duvet through. Press the seams open, then flatten and clip the corners. Turn right side out and press again.

5 Clear a clean floor space that is larger than the duvet. Carefully feed the duvet inside the eiderdown cover, making sure you spread it evenly from corner to corner. Use the safety pins to hook the corner of the duvet to each corner of the cover. Give the eiderdown a shake to spread the layers out and then lay it flat.

6 Now this bit is a little fiddly. You need to decide a grid or line formation on which to place the leather/wool buttons. It’s easier to line them up with the pre-formed pockets in the duvet, but you need to make sure the duvet remains flat. Use safety pins to push through all the layers and create your grid.

7 Cut out the required number of buttons. Use a coin to trace directly onto the leather or wool. Thread the darning needle with a double thickness of quilting thread. Push the needle through the back of one of the safety pin points. Remove the safety pin once the thread is knotted and secure. Then push the needle through a leather button and back down through the eiderdown. Repeat a few times until it’s nice and secure. Thread to the back of the eiderdown, tie off and trim the thread. Repeat for all the remaining points. Check that both sides of the fabric remain flat as you go. Remove the four safety pins from the corners.

8 Pin the remaining edge close. Either hand slipstitch or machine sew the seam closed. CL