Crib bedding, part 1

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday and Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Speaking of moms, my mom was in town for a long weekend, partially to spend time with her daughter, but also to help sew my nursery bedding. I talked a bit about the fabrics I wanted to use in the nursery in this post, but now you get to see some of them in action!

The first order of business was to buy a sewing machine, since I didn't have my own and my mom wasn't about to haul hers out from Minnesota. So in true Tim Gunn fashion, we "made it work" and bought this Project Runway version. I had looked around for a few different machines, but I was concerned about buying a cheap one and the potential for repairs down the road. This one runs so smoothly, like budda. I am just remembering how to sew, so anything would have been acceptable. But my mom {an avid sewer} thought it was totally worth the price.

Once we picked up the new machine, we had to get to work. We had four full days to try to get as much done as possible. On tap: curtains, crib skirt, bumper pads - and if time permitted, an ottoman slip cover and a small pillow for my rocker. You might recognize some of the "look" of my bedding from Erika's blog and her daughter Sloane's nursery. I thought the design was just so fabulous, but I switched things up with my own choice of fabrics. For some detailed photos of her bedding close-up, you can visit this post.

First up for my nursery were the curtains. I bought two pairs {four panels} from Ikea, and planned to trim them out in a pink ticking stripe. Ikea curtains are just so inexpensive, it was cost effective to alter an existing pair, rather than buy all the fabric myself. Plus it cut down on some work. I had one large window, where I planned to use two panels. Then I have one small window, where we planned to cut one panel in half, so the window wouldn't be overwhelmed by curtains. The last remaining panel would be used on the closet {which currently lacks a door}.

We had just enough fabric to trim out the panels, and sew a border around each of the curtains. The panels I bought were originally tab-top, but I wanted a regular rod pocket curtain, so we shortened the curtains by trimming off the tabs. I'm not a huge fan of tabs if I can avoid it.

The days ended up being pretty long, and we used most of the weekend sewing everything. My aunt {standing} drove down from Vermont to hang out and lend a hand. My mom {seated at the machine} did most of the sewing, unless I pinch hit when my skills would allow it. It was really fun having all us ladies working on this little project and spending their free time to help me out. We gabbed about family and about being pregnant, but we also spend the time catching up and laughing.

After the curtains, we worked on the bumper pads. I wanted four individual bumpers {one for each side}, rather than one large bumper that wrapped around the entire crib. The bumpers were made of 2" wide foam, then we wrapped them in quilt batting. The batting helped to soften the edges a bit, but also to hide the sea green color of the foam. I wrapped the batting around the foam sides and secured the ends using Fabric Tac {which helped when I was stuffing these into the outer sleeves}. I had two short sides that were each 23" long, and two long sides that were each 51" long.

The bumper pads had green trellis trim, with matching 1/8" cording. My mom tried to find matching plain green cord, so we wouldn't have to make our own - but nothing really worked. Sewing the cord definitely took awhile, but it really made a difference in the end. We used a cord foot to help create the edging, and it made the process go so smooth. If you sew, or are even thinking about tackling this type of project - invest in a cord foot. That $10 piece saved us thousands in therapy bills.

The cord was really just 1/8" string from Lowes, covered in my fabric choice. Super easy. Here's a wide shot of the cording waiting to be attached to the bumper trim.

Here's the bumper trim, to give you a better idea. The cord wrapped on both sides of the trim, and we positioned the fabric so the diamond trellis pattern would run down the 2" side of each bumper. It took a good chunk of time to sew the cord, then attach it to the trim.

While my mom sewed up the green trim, she also attached the ties. Each bumper has four ties {two on each side}, to attach each section to the crib. The floral is the fabric from the crib skirt. I'd like to say this was totally my plan, but honestly, we ran out of the green trellis, and had to improvise. So the ties ended up being a different color - but I love that "happy mistake".

Once the outside trim was completed, we cut the side boxes from white organic terry cloth. Here are the bumpers prior to the terry cloth. And to all my concerned readers - yes, I totally understand the potential dangers of using bumper pads in the crib. I plan to use these bumpers until the Beanette starts scooting around in her crib, then I plan to switch to the breathable bumpers I have waiting in the wings. I imagine once the dangers of SIDS are long gone, I will switch the nice bumpers back in.

And because I can't forget my first "child", here's a cheap shot of Riley, who was totally enthralled by all the sewing action. She particularly liked the bumper pads, and was a bit disappointed when we took her new "bed" away.

I forgot to take photos of the crib skirt in action, but you'll see that tomorrow when I reveal all the bedding.  But I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out!

If you missed any of the nursery updates so far, you can read those here: design plan, part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.