DIY: Simple Crib Skirt

This was ridiculously simple, and I made it a two-evening long project. Pathetic? No. I think my over meticulousness on something as easy as this was good practice for the more challenging sewing projects I have on deck.

Last night I measured the crib, and did a mock up with some $0.50/yard white cotton. I just turned the seams once, left strings hanging, etc etc. Trevor liked it and the dimensions were right. Can't ask for much more!

So today, I busted out a flat sheet from Target. My family has an aversion to flat sheets, so we have plenty to go around. This one was hot pink, from my middle sister. I checked sizing last night, and I have plenty to do the sheet and the outside panels of the bumpers.

Today I slowed down, and took a long time measuring and ironing. I promised Trevor that I'm going to do things to the best of my ability from now on. Former projects were done haphazardly... not half assed, but once I hit the point of less than 100% confidence, I'd just rush to get the job finished.

Not tonight tho! I cut 5 panels:

2 of 19x29
2 of 19x53
1 of 29x53

I used the big panel as the anchor, so to speak, of the entire skirt. Basically, its the piece pinched in between the mattress and the springs, keeping the skirt in place. The four other panels were sewed to it, making a big cross, or "t". I left an inch on every side, and made some fancy, professional looking seams. Turned and pressed once, then turned again and did a simple straight stitch.



It wasn't until I was putting the skirt in the crib that I realized you only see one sewn hem, and one other panel, since the crib is place in the corner - but again, the meticulousness will pay off later. And I promised :)




The bumpers will have the same pinks on the outside, and a still-to-be-decided contrasting/coordinating fabric on the inside. I'm going to go thru all the fabric I have and see if anything works with the other fabric/colors in the room - if not, I need to wait for a big sale at Hancock fabrics.

Oh, in other news, I finished the changing pad cover last night! The elastic was ridiculously easy to sew in. I owe a BIG thanks to the girls at Prudent Baby for giving me the confidence to jump in. And, of course, the Free Cycler from a few months ago that gave me enough notions to last a lifetime.



Now it's 1am, and I have heartburn, and work in the morning. I think it's time for bed.

:-)

Overstimulated.

I haven't been around in a while, and I don't have a good excuse. (Nope, baby's still safely tucked away in my tummy.)

I realized tonight while driving, checking facebook on my phone, listening to the radio, and stuffing my face with Gardettos Honey Mustard and Onion pretzels, that I was bored. Bored! How could I be doing all of these things, and still be bored? My drive home is a mere 30 minutes long on a bad day, and I had even taken a 15min break to do some shopping at Walmart halfway thru. I think I've developed some form of situational adult ADD.

At work, I'm constantly in motion, both mentally and physically. Rush jobs, micromanaging bosses, emails, orders... all day long I'm thinking, blinking, clicking. I get in the car, and I can't just sit in silence. If I don't have someone to call on the way home (either my mom or a friend) I get anxious, and dangerously fool around on my iPhone. I get home, and turn on the TV. Watch the news, checking email or Facebook on my phone during the commercials, get up to make dinner, and then sit back down for the rest of the night, because I'm so mentally wiped. Watching shit TV just to have something to do.

The truth is, I have a million things to do. I could do the dishes, I could take out the garbage, I could play with my dog, I could do some laundry, I could take a bath and read a book, I could work on the family tree for Delaney's room, I could feed the animals... the list goes on and on. And when Trevor is home, I DO do all these things! But when he's gone, I turn into a big couch potato.

I do find it ironic that I'm blogging about an addiction to electronics, but at least I'm not suffering thru a bad Drew Barrymore movie because it's the best thing on.

My BabyCenter email told me to slow down this week, and do less. Enjoy the time. I think my problem is I'm not doing enough of the stuff that will truly satiate me. I need to put the phone away, turn off the TV, turn on some music, and truly do the things that I say I love to do. I mean, when you introduce yourself to someone, you don't say your favorite hobby is watching mindless TV, do you?

Starting tonight. I'll put some comfy clothes on and do the dishes. Then take out the garbage. Then sweep the floor, pull out the sewing machine, and get elastic on that unfinished changing pad cover. I gotta start somewhere, right?

Baby's Room : Finishing Touches

Anybody know where I can get a good tutorial for making a changing pad cover? Mine has contoured sides, and the cover that's on their currently has elastic along the bottom. I suppose I could do it without the elastic, and just use some velcroed straps or something.

BUT I've promised Trevor that everything I make for the room will look as finished and professional as possible. So any help is appreciated :) I know I can tear apart the current one, and use it as a template for the majority of the piece, its just that finishing fitted touch that only our dear friend elastic can bring.

I'm going to use the same fabric from that first baby blanket for the cover, and then for the rocking chair as well.



They're across the room from one another, and separated by lots of white furniture, so I think we'll be okay. And then, I'll use the remaining bits of it as the piping along the edges of the bumpers (using my favorite tutorial from Sew4Home), and maybe some scraps in the crib quilt as well. That way it's cohesive, but not too overwhelming. It is a pretty stinkin' bright fabric. The rest of the fabric used in the room is going to be pretty simple pimple. Maybe some sort of graphic floral for one side of the bumper, but a chill polka dot on the other. Or chill polka dot on both sides. Who knows. We'll see.

This reader-submitted version from the Sew4Home site is more up my alley:



Also! I've decided on the window treatments. Instead of curtains (which I'll have to hang new hardware for), I got some suede roman shades from FreeCycle, that I'm going to just put new fabric right on top of. That way, the suede acts as a black out when we need to have her go nappy, and I can still have something fancy and pretty facing into the room.

Baby's Room: Work in Progress

Tuesday is 35 weeks, so we're starting to feel the pressure. Delaney's room is our favorite in the house right now! It gets the best light, is the only one without cat hair, and everything is just fresh and light and beautiful. Seriously, Trevor spends his days off up there building furniture, or painting, I'm up there on my evenings organizing clothes and all the other crap that comes with a baby. Then when Trevor gets home from work late at night, we hang out up there for 30min to and hour, recapping what we did that day, and what we still want to do.

Some pictures :)




These were first thing in the morning, with just the sunlight and our tired digital camera. Once we're done, we'll take better shots of it.

Still to do:
- Get the mattress, hah, and make the bed. Still deciding if we're going to buy a crib set, or if I'm going to make one.
- Change the knobs on the dresser, and touch up the paint.
- Make an entire changing pad cover from that same fabric.
- Get artwork up on the wall, we got some super cute (and cheap!) hot pink frames from Ikea.
- Re-recover the rocking chair. The blue Joel Dewberry fabric I have on there currently isn't working with everything else.
- Get a cube shelving unit like this one from Target as another storage/bookshelf piece. Except in white. :)


Aaaand then some staging, and we're done! The hard work right now is getting the rest of our house ready for her. Well, our bedroom, mostly. It's not glamorous in the slightest, our bedroom is like the boyfriend we don't want anyone to know about. Reliable, but treat it like crap. We have good pieces in there, our bed is gorgeous, I got Trevor this amazing antique dresser when we first moved back from Florida, its actually the only room in the house with window treatments we like, lol. But, it just gets used and abused. Piles of dirty laundry on the floor, the bed is never made, piles of clean laundry on the flat surfaces. I mean, it's real life, but with the baby coming into our room for a few months, I need to make sure we don't break an ankle in the middle of the night .