Even if you buy the cheapest ones, that can add up quick.
$8 x 6 sheets = $48
And that is just an estimate. If you are like me and you want to take care of all contingencies - be that mom who says - It's okay. I got this. - and whips out a fresh sheet, you might even have more than 6 crib sheets in your stash. I know, I am likely a little too conservative in this regard, but I have been caught off guard before. And I like being prepared.
Since I have obviously been thinking about this a lot, I went looking for tutorials on how to make my own crib sheet. There are some good ones out there. Great ideas about taking the kids mattress out of the crib and placing it on the fabric to mark out the corners, etc. For me however, anytime I had the time to do the project, my kid was using the mattress.
What I needed was dimensions, and since I like a fitted sheet that isn't a struggle to put on, I like a little extra room, so I decided to measure my own.
Here is what I came up with.
68" x 44" with an 8" x 8" cutout at each corner.
Now, naturally in my blog trolling, I found 2 crib sheet tutorials on sew4home.com with exact dimensions. Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2
Here are the dimensions from sew4home.com.
69" x 44-45" with an 8" x 8" cutout at each corner.
To say the least, I was very pleased to know that my own measurements were so very close to those of a well visited site. Either way, I needed 2 yards of fabric that was at least 44" wide.
Moving on to my first foray in crib sheet making means taking a look at the fabric that I have on hand. Luckily - depends on how you look at it, my side or my husbands - I went on a bit of a fabric binge before Christmas, and I had a few nice flat bedsheets. That meant a lot of choices. Here is one of them, and it was even free, thanks to my friend Margaret! Who doesn't like free and aliens?
For my first crib sheet, I chose to make it with the following dimensions: 69" x 44" with an 8" x 8" cutout at each corner. The first fabric I chose, was 44" wide.
While making these crib sheets, I chose to use a French seam like sew4home.com's 2nd tutorial. It was surprisingly simple and makes for a very nice, finished look.
Firstly, I cut out 8" x 8" corners.
Then started the French seam by placing the wrong sides of the fabric together, and sewed a 1/8 inch seam. If you have never done it before, it might feel wrong. It did for me, but the end product is lovely. :)
Next, I turned my seam inside out and pressed it flat with my iron. I pinned my pressed seam to keep everything in place, and finally, sewed a 1/4 inch seam. Done! Doesn't that look good?
Pretty inside and out.
Finally, I sewed the elastic casing.
I started by folding the raw edge (or selvedge) down and pressing. Then I folded down another half inch or enough to encase your elastic. I chose a 3/8" elastic. Pressed and pinned, I sewed all around the elastic casing, leaving about a 2 inch gap unsewn, in order to insert my elastic.
Once I threaded the elastic all the way through, I zigzag stitched the 2 ends with 2-3 inches overlapping.
I used the recommended 60 inches of elastic from sew4home.com's tutorial, and it worked out rather well.
I finished sewing the casing closed.
Eh, voila! Easy, peasy, custom sheeting for any beautiful baby that costs the same or less than any store bought sheet.
I impressed myself with this one. Look at those practically perfect lines! When I chose this fabric, it didn't occur to me how important it would be for those lines in the fabric to be really perpendicular. :) Phew!
Check it out. The green is store bought. Not much of a difference!
Never thought you could do it? Well, you can, and it is not all that hard.
Kelley
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What a darling crib sheet!! I will have to save this to make at some point. Thanks for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Who knew cribs sheets could be so very easy to make? :) The most difficult thing for me was clearing enough space of toys or other kid paraphernalia, in order to cut the 69" of fabric.
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