Thursday, April 25, 2013

DIY Crib Sheet


I have been on the hunt for the perfect crib sheets but have been really struggling to find any that I like. I decided to see if there were any fun custom sheets on Etsy but I about had a heart attack when I realized people were charging $50 for a single crib sheet.  That is absolute robbery!!!!  I charge that for entire quilts!

So I went ahead and Googled a crib sheet tutorial and it actually looked REALLY easy...so easy in fact that I had to try it.  I would rate it as a beginner level project (probably takes about 30 - 60 minutes max to finish a sheet).  The only thing that I will say is that if you happen to have a serger it gives a much more finished look and feel but you could certainly still make the sheets without one.

Tips:
 - You need 80 inches of 1/4 inch elastic (about $1) and 2 yards of fabric ($5 - $12 a yard but if you are like me you go on the cheaper end of that range) - it cost me about $15 for the project
- Note:  My mattress is 27.5 inches wide by 52 inches long by 7 inches tall
- I used this tutorial with a few modifications
- Pre-wash your fabric!
- If you are like me it is too much trouble to find 45 inch wide fabric and all the cute prints are 42 inches wide so I went ahead and changed the measurements so that you can use 42 inch wide fabric (cut your piece of fabric 41 inches by 67 inches and cut your corner squares 7.5 by 7.5 inches)
- Note:  The only thing to consider if you do decide to use 42 inch wide fabric is that you don't have a ton of "wrap" beneath the mattress (the sheet just fits around it - you can't see the edge when it is in the crib or anything but it isn't a generous margin - also because of this I would serge or zig zag your edge and do a single fold instead of trying a double fold) - I suppose you could also leave the selvage edges on the fabric and fold those back to make your casing which would give you a wider piece of fabric but I personally am not a fan of edges...
- I like to minimize steps when sewing so I skipped the part where you iron down the the edge of the sheet and I just went ahead and eyeballed it and folded it as I stitched (I used a 0.5 inch fold here since I was using 0.25 inch elastic and I stitched near the edge of my fabric)

So here it is my first crib sheet - it fits nice and tightly...(maybe this weekend I will finish the crib skirt!)




Happy sewing!  I definitely recommend this as a fun quick project!

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