Welcome to this week's sewing project!!! Sorry I missed last week. We're currently having our kitchen remodeled, and there was no place for me to set up my machine.
I have since moved it to the office and am now using the computer desk for the machine, and a little chair for a cutting table lol.
Since I'm 36 weeks along I took the opportunity to complete a couple projects for Baby's room. I have several crafts I'd like to complete before Baby gets here. On that note, once Baby arrives I'll be taking a hiatus from my site. We're planning to quarentine the first 30 days, and then however long after that it takes me to put Baby on a schedule.
I actually have two projects for you this week, we're making changing pad covers and crib sheets.
For the changing pad cover I started with reading and following this blogger's tutorial.
However her tutorial requires a 48 width piece of fabric. And I, choosing to do my covers out of flannel, only had a 44 width fabric work with. Making a discrepancy of 4 inches.
As you can see it turned out a little tight, and actually makes the edges of the changing pad curl up (I put some books on it to flatten it out for the picture 😅) I'm still going to keep it because I love the little bunnies stargazing, and I know Baby will be heavy enough to weigh it down anyways.
Still had to head back to the drawing board to get a better fit on the rest of the covers!
Changing Pad Cover
Our tale starts at one of my most favorite places Joann's. Hubby went with me to pick out the changing pad fabrics.
I picked the bunnies and the moon, Hubby picked the sheep. It was fun picking out fabric together. He doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as I do, but still goes with me because it makes me so happy!
For those wondering why I opted for the cotton flannel over classic cotton, since I'm having a winter baby I thought the flannel would be cozier in the cooler months. I can always make a few more in the summer months when things warm up. I also decided to make three because they'll probably get dirty and this way I can change them out immediately rather than after laundering.
So I purchased 1 yard of each, they all came in a 44 width giving me a 44x36 piece of fabric. After purchasing I brought them all home and washed them, I'm not typically one to pre-shrink my fabric, but figured I'd have to wash them before putting my precious baby down for changing so might as well before I start cutting.
After washing and drying i measured the length out to 32 inches. Making a small cut I was able to tear a straight line (this technique works on most wovens) even with a cutting table I like to use the tear technique because it's much more accurate than cutting. It really only works with straight lines though. Now my fabric measures a total of 44x32
Next I folded the fabric in half, and measured out a 7x7in square on the selvedge corners.
(A selvage edge is the tightly woven, self-finished edge of a piece of fabric that prevents it from fraying or unraveling. Selvages are typically found on both lengthwise edges of fabric, and are stiffer and denser than the rest of the fabric.)
Cutting out along my lines I removed the 7in square and opened my fabric flat. Leaving four gaps like the one pictured above (please ignore my terrible manicure 🫣)
Right sides together I lined up the selvedge to the raw edge of each corner and stitched a 1/4 inch seam.
I finished it with a zig zag seam because my serger is still at my parents place.
Then a 1/2 inch casing all the way around leaving a small opening to run some elastic. I cut a 45in of 1/4 elastic.
Sew the elastic edges together then close up your casing and voila!!!! All done! Now you have a nice little cover for your pad.
A much better fit plus it goes with our space theme.
Crib Sheets
For this I followed the 'I can sew this' tutorial and it turned out absolutely perfect. https://icansewthis.com/how-to-make-a-crib-sheet/
Feel free to follow the link to check it out. For this project I started at Joann.com for my fabric shopping. I remember I was actually sick that week and couldn't make it to the store. I chose four different flannel fabrics, again flannel because I'm having a winter baby.
For these I tried to be real thoughtful in my color choices because I want to use the scraps to make a quilt afterwards.
Funny, both Hubby and I liked the bear and mice fabric best lol. He didn't help me pick these ones out, I ordered them all while he was at work, 2 yards of each at a 44 width.
Once again I washed them all before getting started. I measured out the length to a 68 inches and tore the fabric as before giving myself a 44x68 piece of fabric.
Just as before I folded the fabric in half then cut a square out of the selvedge corner. This time I did an 8x8 square, it's very important, the crib sheet needs an 8x8 square in order to be deep enough to go around the mattress.
Once again I lined the raw edge to the selvedge edge and sewed a 1/4 in. Finishing with a zig zag. Then again I did a 1/2 in casing, leaving an opening for the elastic. For the elastic I actually ran different lengths on a couple and decided I liked the 1/4 inch elastic at 75 inch length best on my sheets. I then sewed the elastic ends together closed up my casing and made the bed. Since I already had moons on the changer I put moons in the bed also.
We don't know if we're having a boy or girl as we want to be surprised, tgst means we need a gender neutral nursery. With Hubby and I being both Sci-Fi nerds and since he proposed to me under the Eclipse Totallity, a space theme appropriate, and very us.
Nursery isn't totally together yet, but at least I have all my changing pad covers and bed sheets.
Little by little it's all coming along. Thank you for reading! I hope all your sewing projects turn out, Happy Fashion Friday, see you next week.
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