As soon as I’m finished with Sharky’s room, I’ll post pictures. But for now, you’re just getting bits and pieces.
The most important supply has been Michael Miller fabric – I’m using a combination of the Groovy Guitar and Lagoon prints, and I LOVE how everything is coming together. Love the colors, love the prints, love the thickness of the actual fabric, and baby’s going to love it too.
We painted the room and I’m making new crib bedding with the quilting fabric to match.
My first accomplishment (besides the quilt) is the crib skirt. I tried to be very thorough with this tutorial, but maybe that’s just more confusing. Hopefully it all makes sense!
SUPPLIES
- 1.25 yards quilting fabric (Michael Miller is always a good choice!)
- 3/4 yard coordinating fabric for bias tape (use my double fold method)
- basic sewing supplies (pins, scissors, machine, serger)
INSTRUCTIONS
My method involves making only enough sides to cover the sides of the crib that are visible. In my case, that’s just one but this tutorial includes instructions to do a crib skirt all the way around.
A typical crib bed skirt measures 28″ x 52″ with a 10″ drop.
Here’s how I would figure out how much fabric you’ll need to go around the entire crib:
- Crib dimensions: 52 x 2 (long sides) + 28 x 2 (short sides) = 160″
- Fabric is 43″ wide (sometimes more, usually not less)
- 160 / 43 = 3.72 and then round up to the next whole number = 4
- My skirt is going to be 10″ high so 4 x 10 = 40″
- 40″/36″ = approximately 1.25 yards of fabric
(I like math. If you don’t, sewing is probably not for you. Sewing involves A LOT of math.)
So to do a skirt all the way around your crib that is 10″ in the rise, you’ll need 2 yards of fabric.
ACTUAL INSTRUCTIONS
1.Cut and piece fabric first.
Fold fabric with the selvage edges together and straighten ends. Cut 4 strips each 10″ high. You should have 4 pieces measuring 10″ x 43″ (or whatever the width of your fabric is).
2. Cut 2 of the strips down to 28″. Piece the others together and cut two more to 52″.
3. Cut bias tape – here’s the math to figure that one out:
- Crib dimensions: 52 x 2 (long sides) + 28 x 2 (short sides) = 160″
- Fabric is 43″ wide (sometimes more, usually not less)
- 160 / 43 = 3.72 and then round up to the next whole number = 4
- My bias tape needs to be 3.5″ wide so 3.5 x 4 = 14″
- 14″ / 36″ = approximately 1/2 yard
Cut 3.5″ strips and sew the short ends together, pressing seams open. Then press entire length of fabric in half to create your double fold bias tape.
Whew. Cutting’s all done.
4. For the first long side, you’ll have a rectangular piece that measures 10″ x 52″.
Attach the bias tape along both short edges and one long edge.
Leave one long edge unfinished until the end.
Start pinning the bias tape at the top of one short side. Go down the first short side, around the corner, along the long side, and back up the other short side.
Corners are tricky.
Pin along the first edge until you get to the corner and then fold the bias tape at a 90″ angle to match up with the quilting fabric. You’ll have a bunch of excess fabric in that corner than you should manipulate to make into a little triangle so that the folded edge of the bias tape on the inside meets at a 90″ angle.
5. Sew bias tape to quilting fabric with a 1/2″ seam.
To sew down the corners, sew along the first side right up to where the folds of the triangle are. You’re going to fold the triangle back away from your stitching line so you don’t sew them down, you just sew right up against them. Maybe one stitch over.
Basically, you’re going to pretend that that little triangle of fabric doesn’t exist. Your stitching lines will almost meet at the corner at a 90 degree angle. You’re just going to leave tiny bit of space so you don’t sew any of that excess fabric in the triangle down. If you do, you won’t be able to flip it around to the back side.
You can see in the above picture where I stop my line of stitching. That triangle of fabric should still be able to stitch straight up after you’ve sewed along both edges of the corner.
After you finish the first side, back stitch, snip your threads, and start a new line of stitching along the long edge, back stitching at the beginning.
Start sewing exactly where the folds from the triangle meet the rest of the bias tape going along that long side – I put my pin right up against the folds so I know right where to start.
Only one more corner!
6. After you’ve attached the bias tape on the right side of the fabric with a 1/2″ seam, flip the folded edge of the bias tape around the raw edge and overlap the seam line on the back with the folded edge of the bias tape by 1/8″.
I find that using quilting binding clips (which look EXACTLY like barrettes) holds the fabric in place better.
To sew down the corners, pin right up to the corner.
Then fold the next edge over, overlapping the first edge. The two corners will make a 45 degree angle.
7. Stitch in the ditch.
The corners are the hardest part, and after you do it once it’ll be easy.
Finish the second long edge – I serge. I love serging.
Now one long side of your crib skirt is finished. Do the next 3 (or however many other sides of your crib are visible).
The pieces will all attach to your crib separately, so no need to hassle yourself over connecting them.
Stay tuned for the rest of the tutorial next week and learn the easiest way ever to attach a crib skirt to a crib.
Please let me know if you have questions or if anything was confusing! Good luck!
{Thanks to my sponsor, Michael Miller, for providing the Lagoon Hoopla Dot fabric for this tutorial. }
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