It started with a Crib Bumper...

 

 

I know this post is pretty late but I haven't been able to find the time to blog lately. Jackson has been needing a lot of attention and when he's asleep I find a ton of other things that need to get done. On a good note though, Jackson is finally sleeping through the night!! He is 8 mo. old now and he's only been sleeping through the night for two weeks. I didn't want to do the cry it out method because it breaks my heart to just hear him cry but for my sanity I had to do it. I did it while Tyrone was on a work trip so that he wouldn't be exhausted at work. The first night I did it, I was pretty much in tears with Jackson. I have become such a baby ever since I became a mother. But seriously, it broke my heart. I just wanted to pick him up and hold him. The next night he did the same thing but I wasn't as emotional. Then, the third night, he just whined for a little bit and then he went back to sleep. Everyone kept telling me it would take three nights and they were right. I totally should have done it sooner. With the next one, I am not going to wait 8 months. That's a long time with no sleep! Oh, and did I tell you that Jackson doesn't really take naps during the day either? That's a whole different story. I won't go into that here. I am just so glad that he is a happy smiling boy.

Anyway, onto the bumpers... About a month and a half ago Jackson started rolling like crazy. He had been rolling for a while but then he started the crazy rolls where he was smacking into the sides of his crib and limbs were getting stuck out of the bars.One day I went in there and he was asleep on his stomach with both of his feet hanging out the bars. Seriously, overnight he got crazy. I started getting worried because we have a metal crib and his rolls weren't quite controlled yet. I didn't want him to get a concussion or something. So, I looked up some crib bumpers online and I didn't really like any of them. They were around $35 on average for simple bumpers and I found them to be kind of ugly. I decided I could just make some. I spent a couple nights finding different tutorials on how to make crib bumpers. I took little bits and pieces from different tutorials and I made my own crib bumpers. I was shocked with how good they turned out. It took me a couple days to make them and three trips to Joann's to get supplies. That's seriously the worst. But, they are done and I love them.


Here is how I made the bumpers:

 

This is the crib foam that I bought from Joann's.

You will need 1 1/4 yd of 2 different coordinating fabrics. Cut 11" strips and sew them together until you have an 11"x 160" strip. You may want to measure your crib to  make sure that your crib is 160" all the way around. 

I then, made the ties for the crib. You can use strips of ribbon but I wanted to make them with the matching fabric. I made my strips 1" wide, folded them over and sewed straight down. They were 1"x 24". I would recommend making them at least 2"x 24". 1" was hard to sew. But, they still turned out great. You will need to make 14 ties. You will want to melt the ends with a lighter so they don't fray.

Start pinning with the right sides facing out. You will pin your first ties just an inch from the edge. Pin ties across from each other every 26" approximately. It helps to pin the ends together in the middle so they don't get sew in somewhere. Start pinning your bias tape onto your two main fabrics. This process takes a long time. I felt like I pinned forever. I actually ran out of pins. I had to go to the store and buy another box of them. I've never used that many before!

Laid out on my floor it went from my front door almost to the  kitchen. There is no way I could have even laid this out in our old one bedroom apartment. It is really long!

I finally finished pinning. I stopped taking pictures after this. I stitched the bias tape on the top and then I stuffed the bumpers with the foam. Finally, I sewed bias tape around the last edge, and ta-da. Crib Bumpers!

You will need 4 packages of double fold bias tape. You need a total of 10 yards. 

Jackson gave me a fist bump to let me know he liked the bumpers.

After I had done the bumpers I decided that if I could make that then of course I could make a crib skirt and sheet to match. So, I made those as well. In all honesty, the crib skirt and sheet were really simple. It only took me a couple of hours to make those.

For the crib sheet I followed the tutorial from Fancy Napkin

The crib skirt was pretty easy you just  need to take measurements of your crib. My crib is 10" off the ground when it's at it's lowest setting. I wanted the crib to almost touch the ground at it's lowest setting. These were the  measurements I used. If your crib is up against a wall, you can just do a single long strip for the front of the crib and leave the back.

Two 53" x 11.5" panels for the long sides

Two 28" x 11.5" panels for the short sides

One 52" x 27" panel for the top- I used white because It's not going to be seen anyway.

 Sew the panels onto the white fabric. Sew with the right side of the fabric facing the white fabric. I then, just tucked each edge underneath and sewed straight lines.

I put the whole crib bedding up for sale on Etsy. If you would like one specially made let me know. I had a lot of fun making it.

My latest project is to make some black out curtains. I have leftover mustache fabric so I  figured why not. When I get it finished I will post pictures.