Diaper Holder

The diaper holder was probably the hardest nursery item I made...probably because I didn't use a pattern of any kind. I pulled out my old one from the boys and used it as a guide.

Bottom

12.75" x 9.5"

  Side/Body (keep pattern vertical as it wraps around and is one large piece)

52.75" x 18.25"

 Top Pieces (x2)

12.75" x 7"

 Ties (x2)

22.5" x 4"

 seam allowance of .25"
 I also cut 2 trim pieces for the opening that were 1.5" x 18.25" and I made some pink piping. If you make piping, change your pressure foot to the zipper foot. It is much easier if you iron all your pieces. I even ironed all the seams on the trim and ties.

First I sewed the ties together just like I did on the crib bumper, and then I assembled the top portion first. Lay the TOP front piece down face up(this is the side that will be on display when hanging on the crib). Fold the ties in half and space them appropriately for your crib bars. 

Lay the back piece (the side that will not be seen) face down on top of this selvage edge to selvage edge. 

Sew across the top, down both sides and invert right side out. Leave the bottom so you can attach the lower portion of the diaper holder later. I also added a seam about 1/4" around the top and sides after I inverted.

Next I assembled the lower portion. First I sewed on the trim to the ends of the SIDE/BODY. I ironed them earlier by folding the edges in and ironing and then folding the entire piece in half and ironing. So it should slide on the ends of the SIDE/BODY without any edges showing. Sew a single line straight down.

 
 Lay the SIDE/BODY face down and fold the sides over so the edges meet in the middle. Since the bottom of the holder will be wider than the top when we are all finished, we will need to fold the top again only. To do this take the top outside edges and slide them inside until they meet in the middle.

Sew the piping if you have it inside the top portion and then slide the SIDE/BODY inside the TOP portion and sew straight across. I added another seam 1/4" in to match the rest of the top portion.

 Lastly I turned the holder inside out and sewed the BOTTOM on, ruching the corners just a bit. I then turned it right side out through the diaper opening and hung on the crib. oh, and I placed a bit of white cardboard in the bottom. Turned out much better than I expected since this was my first time making something like this!

  

Crib Bumper

The crib bumper was easier than I thought. Once again the fabric I used came from babybedding.com. Here is the coordinating fabrics I ordered...all but the green. http://www.babybedding.com/white-pagoda-collection-fabric. I really like coordinating fabrics when ordering online because it is so hard to tell if the colors match from the computer.

For the bumper I used the watermelon lattice inside and the solid melon outside. I used LeAnne Barlow's blog for dimensions http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/2012/05/crib-bedding-101.html.

Long side x2

13.75" x 54.75"

 

13.75" x 27.5"

Short side x2

.75” seam allowance

 Cut and iron all the pieces before assembly. I also had to make my piping. If you need to make your own, remember to switch your footer piece to the zipper footer. I made the piping first.

 I then made the ties for the bumper. There are a total of 12 ties. I made my ties a little longer because my crib has extra thick corners that the ties needed to fit around. Therefore my ties measured 25" x 4" with a .25" s.a.  I cut the ties and ironed them folded in half & inside out. Then sew inside out leaving one end open for flipping the tie back right side out. Hint: the wider the tie, the easier to flip back right side.

I sewed the open end closed by tucking in the selvage edge and sewing together with the seam showing. I decided to leave the seam since there were so many ties, and I didn't want to have to sew them all by hand. If this really bugs you, you could sew 24 shorter ties and use two at every tie location.

Assemble. Try to match the tie spacing with the bar spacing on your crib. Place fabric face up with ties on top.

 Next, place piping on top selvage edge to selvage edge.

 Lastly, place the inside fabric face down selvage edge to selvage edge and sew. Repeat for the bottom, and sew one of the ends. Leave the other end open for the foam pad or bumper filling.

I used a large foam pad from Hobby Lobby that was 2" thick. I ended up cut them 50.5" by 12" (x2) and 23" x 12" (x2). 

 I then sewed the ends and four pieces together. Looks so cute! It's great if you want something a little different or a custom look!

Crib skirt

I am super excited that we are having a baby girl in about 2 months time...so much so that I am making her bedding. First is the crib skirt. I used a couple of great blogs to get started. They were http://dkhibler.blogspot.com/2009/06/crib-skirt-tutorial.html and Leanne Barlow's Elle Apparel http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/2012/05/crib-bedding-101.html.

I found some great fabric at babybedding.com called white pagoda. I ended up buying something like 4 or 5 yards of the white pagoda because I am making multiple items from this fabric. It is also important to note that this fabric had a picture on it so I had to be careful to cut it so the picture was vertical as it should be.

To assemble I used Leanne Barlow's measurements and added 3 inches to the long side making it 55" x 15.25" so that I could add one large pleat to the skirt. It ended up not mattering in my case though as the crib rail covered it up completely!

 I also decided to go ahead and cut 2 long pieces. Most the time it wouldn't really matter as you only see the front of the crib, but if I decide to sell the set later, I didn't want there to be a problem.

Long Sides (2)  55" x 15.25" which allows .25" seam allowance
Short Sides (2) 27" x 15/25" with .25" s.a.
Center section of white muslin 28" x 15.5" with .25" s.a.

I always iron the seams to make sewing easier...especially when sewing a pleat.

I then sewed together.

Tada! I think the skirt turned out super cute!

From Placemat to Accent Pillow...

We have recently been redoing the downstairs living room. I found some great wing-back side chairs, and I wanted new pillows to go with them. After looking around a bit though, I just couldn't find anything I wanted. I really wanted them to be washable because that area gets a lot of through traffic, and I also wanted them to add some color and look nice without spending too much. Finally, I didn't want to have to sew both pillows myself since my sewing skills are not exactly top of the line...not to mention I didn't have the time.

So, I had a set of place mats from Target already on hand, and I bought a white accent pillow and zipper from Hobby Lobby.I placed the place mat around the pillow, marking the width, and cut a little over one inch off the width making sure to leave enough material to sew with. I wanted the pillow to be small and long.I turned the pillow inside out and got ready to pin the zipper. This is the hard part. To make the seam look 'more' professional, fold the cut material length down so that the right side of the material is facing up along the open seam. Place the zipper along the right side of the material so that the folded seam lies on the zipper and pin it in place. You should have three layers to pin...the zipper, the folded seam, and the pillow side. Also note the more material you allow in the seam, the more you will hide the zipper when it is finished. The zipper will have a "lip" of material to cover it up. I did not give my first pillow a large lip as you can see, but the second I tried it and liked it a lot better.
Sew along the pinned line.Line up the back side of the zipper making sure both sides of the zipper are even. And repeat.
To finish it off, I actually sewed in a slight diagonal from the end of the zipper up towards the corner of the pillow. If you sew it straight out the zipper will protrude from the pillow, so this technique will help hide it. And lastly, the place mats had a small thread line around the edge, making it almost look like it had piping, so I finished the corners off with the same.
Here it is, zipper side up!
All in all, I am really happy with my new pillows. Most will never know they used to be place mats, and the best part is they are washable! I haven't taken a picture of them on my new chairs yet, but when I do I will post it. It took me about an hour each after gathering all the materials, but a good seamstress could do it in half the time.