In my typical fashion, I've waited until the last minute to get this nursery put together....
"If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do"... right???
We had leftover SW Amazing Gray paint from our kitchen remodel, so I figured it was best to just use that paint and save money. Plus, gray is a great neutral that would can put just about anything with. Gray and pink and gray and yellow are nice, but I've seen so much of it, I just wanted to do something a little different, so.... I love the idea of gray and coral. With coral, you can still pull in pinks. Initially I thought of doing coral, aqua, and yellow, but also thought that coral and navy might be a little more sophisticated. I searched fabrics FOREVER and finally found this
fabric that just seemed to have the right colors I was looking for. I thought I would have used something a little more geometric and modern, but was surprised that I went with a floral. I had already bought some coral colored canvas bins for the changing table and this matched them PERFECTLY! I stuggled to find a crib sheet in store that was the true coral I was looking for, so I just bought one in the pale pink for now. Thanks to Etsy, I now have a coral one on the way.
I didn't pay for a bedding set for Carson. We fortunately had a friend that offered to make the bumpers, and I made the crib skirt. I did a very simple no-sew one and it worked out just fine. Here's a link to that
tutorial. We ended up not even using the bumpers for a while since they are now saying they aren't safe. Anyways, that's a whole other story....
I decided early on that I wasn't going to go all out on bedding, even though it's so easy to for a girl. More than anything, I HATED changing the crib sheet with the bumpers. It took forever to untie everything. So, just a pretty crib skirt and sheet it was. I knew I could always fall back on the basic no-sew crib skirt that I had done for Carson, but I REALLY wanted something fuller and more girly, so I set out to make a ruffled one. I've made ruffles before, so I knew it couldn't be that hard... and it wasn't!
So, here's my best attempt to walk you through what I did.
Step 1: Figure out how much fabric you need
The interior width of the crib was ~52" and the sides were ~28". The drop length was ~19-20" (I think... going from memory here, so PLEASE measure and don't rely on this!).
My fabric was 44'-45" wide off the bolt, so I just ironed it down the middle and cut it in half. I knew the drop length wasn't as crucial, as long as it was long enough, so I figured that ~22" was perfect.
To get "full enough" ruffles, I used double the length of the crib, so 104" for the long side and 56" for the short sides. I then added about an inch on either end so that I could hem the sides, so about 106" total for the long side and 58" for the short sides. I will note that while double length was enough, you may want to go 2.5x if you want even fuller ruffles.
Note: I did not wash my fabric first, which I would generally never recommend. Fabric often shrinks, so it's generally best practice to wash your fabric first. I was too eager to get started and figured that it was probably unlikely that my crib skirt would ever get really dirty. I don't think I ever had to wash Carson's. If yours is white or a light color that may show dirt easily, you may want to wash the fabric before you cut. I also knew I already had some extra length built in, so I wasn't worried that one wash would make it too short.
Step 2: Hem the bottom & sides edges
This is a step that if I'm just making for myself, I will always keep simple. I cheat and just buy this stuff... It's "sew" easy! I can't remember if I used 3/8" or 1/2", but either should work.
I just folded the bottom edge of the fabric about 1/2" and ironed, creating a fold to just slide the Heat 'N Bond in. Once I had created the ironed fold on the bottom, I cut about 12" strips of the Heat 'N Bond and stuck them in the fold and iron it until the adhesive stuck (just follow the directions on the package). Continue creating your no-sew hem along the bottom on the fabric for each piece. You will also want to do the sides. Create a nice corner fold, iron, fold over and iron your 1/2" pocket up the sides. Leave about an inch at the top of each side so that it won't interfere with your ruffling that you will do along the top. Three of the four sides of each piece of fabric should now be "hemmed".
If I were making this for someone else, I would either do a traditional hem where I would fold twice so that there were no raw edge or I would serge the edge and then fold up and hem. Either option would give a cleaner look.
Step 3: Baste the top edge
There are multiple ways to create ruffles, but the simplest that I know of is just to set your machine to the longest straight stitch (on my Singer it is a "5"... the far right of my picture). This is what you'd use if you were creating a baste stitch. If your machine has a basting setting, that would be perfect. I also increase to max tension (far left of picture) since this will create a {very} slight ruffle on its own.
Note: If you have never created ruffles before, you may want to take a scrap piece of fabric first to test your settings and make sure you are able to create the ruffles before you start on your actual skirt. I had almost no fabric left if I messed up, so I definitely did this first.
Pull the thread out quite a bit so that you have a long "tail" before you start sewing. Do NOT back stitch when you start. About 1/2" from the raw, top edge of your fabric, start sewing. Because of the high tension, it will probably pucker some, which is perfectly fine. Continue sewing the length of the top and continue until you run out of fabric. Again, do NOT back stitch. When you reach the end, just keep going until you sew off the edge of the fabric. Before you cut your thread, pull out a bunch extra so you have a long "tail" on both ends.
Step 4: Pull the thread to create the ruffles
Each "tail" will consist of two threads. Mine always get twisted, so separate and then GENTLY hold one thread and try to pull the other. If it doesn't easily start to gather, switch. Again, BE GENTLE! If the threads break, you may have to re-baste and start over. Some people do baste two rows of stitching just in case one does break. Not a bad idea, actually. Keep pulling and gathering. Since the long side is exactly that, LONG, I like to work from each side and then meet in the middle. Once you've gathered to the optimal ruffle fullness, makes sure they are fairly evenly spaced.
I realized that my optimum ruffle fullness created a much too short piece of fabric. Like I said at the beginning, I doubled the length, but probably could have gone 2.5x. See below for how to fix.
Step 5: Add a panel and "secure" the ruffles
The problem with most traditional crib skirts (constructed similar to a normal bed skirt with a fixed piece of fabric covering the box spring) is that they do not "grow" with your child. As your baby gets bigger and starts standing up, you lower the crib mattress. As you do that, the crib skirt just starts looking silly as it pools on the floor. To solve this problem, I add a panel and then attach ribbons so that you can move it farther in on the metal mattress frame as you lower the mattress.
I found some random fabric in my fabric bin that just happened to match the crib skirt, so I cut a piece about 6" wide and 52" long (the interior length of the crib/mattress frame) and 6" x 28" for the sides. l attached the ruffled piece to this and then add ribbons to tie to the mattress frame.
Hem the two short sides . I didn't make mine super pretty. I just folded over about a 1/2". Again, if you were making for someone, you should probably have allowed a little more excess so that you can either fold over twice or use a serger to finish the edge and then hem.
After you've hemmed the short sides, put the "right" sides of the fabric together and pin.
To "secure" the ruffles, you'll want to switch your machine settings back to a normal straight stitch (i.e. ~1-2 stitch length, Auto tension) versus the long, basting stitch. You'll want to be sure to stitch on the inside of the basting stitch versus on the outside (closest to the fabric edge). If you are on the inside, you'll cover the basting stitch. I wasn't perfectly straight and had a few places where my basting stitch did show... the good news is that since you've got the other stitch in place there now, you can just cut the basting stitch and pull it out since the ruffles are now secure.
Step 6: Hem the top edge of the panel and add ribbon ties
I just found some random ribbon and cut about 12"-18" strips. I folded them in 1/2 and slipped them under the presser foot as I was hemming the top edge. Again, not super pretty, but it works. I did stitch over and then back stitch to reinforce the ties. I think I had 5 ties on the long side and 4 on the short side. I probably could have done 1-2 more on the long side, but 5 was fine.
Once you've got your ties sewed on, you just tie them on to the mattress frame so that your skirt is the length you want it to be.
Voila!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!!! I'd be happy to answer it!!!
