DIY Crib Bumpers in two fabrics

Taking on this project was pretty big for me. I knew I would need nursery bedding but I didnt want to spend a ton of money and I also wanted to make the nusery modern and look well with the rest of the house. Its a pretty long process, but the end result is so great. Its also fun to say that you made all the nursery bedding for your baby to other people. Pretty impressive ;)

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What you will need

Any Sewing Machine
Foam Baby Bumper Pads - package of six measuring 10" x 26" x 1"
Fabric for inside of six crib bumpers: 2 yards of 45” wide fabric: I used the blue chevon shown below
Fabric for outside of six crib bumpers: 2 yards of 45" wide fabric: I used the green shown below
Fabric for piping around bumpers: 1½ yards of 45” wide fabric: we used the orange shown below
ribbon to match your orange piping
6 yards 3/8" diameter cotton cording
All-purpose thread in colors to match fabrics
Iron and Ironing board
See through ruler
Fabric marking pen or chalk pencil
Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
Straight pins
Iron and ironing board
Corner template (see download below)
5" square piece of cardboard or template plastic for template (check your local craft store for stencil material)

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Getting Started

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Cut your fabric and trims

Download the corner curve template and trace it onto a piece of cardboard or template plastic. Cut out.
http://www.sew4home.com/sites/sewmk.mervideo.com/files/images/articles/patterns/0256-corner_pattern.pdf

1. Cut six 27" x 11¾" pieces of fabric from both the blue chevron and the green (six pieces from each fabric). (Note: To make this amount of fabric sufficient, cut 11¾" pieces along the 45" edge of the fabric.)
2. Using the template you made, mark a rounded edge on each corner of each 27" x 11¾" piece of fabric. Cut the rounded corners. Using the original template pattern (the paper), transfer the markings (the dots) onto your fabric using the fabric marking pen. I like to make a tiny hole with a pin right in the middle of the dot, then I line up my pattern on my fabric and make a mark with my pen through that hole.   

3.  For the ties, cut twenty-four 16" pieces from orange ribbon

4. Cut six 30" lengths from cording.

5. Cut six 2¼" wide bias strips according to the instructions below. Each will need to be about 30" long.
 



Cut your bias strips

1. On your cutting surface, lay your fabric out flat, right side up, with the selvage running along one side.
   
2. The selvage is the woven edge of your fabric where it was originally attached to the loom. The fabric's pattern does not continue onto the selvage, but there is likely to be some information printed there that identifies the manufacturer or designer.
3. Fold the fabric back diagonally so a straight edge is parallel to the selvage.
4. Press the fold and use this crease as a guide to mark your parallel lines.
5. Use a straight edge to make continuous parallel likes 2¼" apart.
   
6. Cut along these lines with good, sharp scissors or a rotary cutter and straight edge.

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At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

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Join bias strips

1. You may need to join two strips to make one that is the necessary 30" long. To do this, take two of your strips and place them right sides together at right angels to each other.
2. Stitch straight across.
   
3. Lay flat, press the seam open and trim off the overlapping edges.
   
4. Repeat until you have one long fabric strip.

Insert the cord

1. Place one 30" bias strip right side down on a large flat surface.
2. Lay a 30" length of cord in the center.
3. Fold the fabric over the cord, keeping the cord centered and matching the raw edges of the fabric.
   
4. Pin to hold in place.
5. Carefully move to your sewing machine and adjust the piping so the raw edges line up on your seam allowance marking and cord pokes out to the left of your foot.
   
6. Using the Zipper Foot, stitch slowly staying close to the cord and keeping your seam allowance consistent. Remember to remove your pins as you go so you don't sew over them.  

Stitch cording to bumper fabric

1. Pin cording to the right side of a 27" x 11¾" piece green fabric. Using the dots you made with the template, start pinning the cording at the large dot in the center of left curved edge, stretching along the 27" straight side, and ending in the center of the curved edge at the large dot on the right side. Be sure to match the raw edges of the piping insertion fabric and the base fabric. Your cording should be centered between the dots.
    
2. Stitch in place using the zipper foot. You are stitching around a curve so you'll need to gently ease the fabric, which means it might ripple slightly. That's okay.
   
3. Repeat to add cording in this same manner to all six 27" x 11¾" Petal Flora pieces.

Make the ties

For me I saw a tutorial where she used fabric to make the ties, which is fine if you choose but I decided just to go with orange ribbon because it wasn't near as much work.. But if you want to know how to do it with fabric just comment below and I will send you her tutorial that has the instructions for that part. You will need to cut four pieces of ribbon at 16 inches for each bumper if you choose to just do ribbon like mine!

Finish the bumpers

1. Pin a ribbon to the side of a green piece, with the right side of the fabric facing up. Use the template to determine where to put them - you will pin them just below the small dot on the upper corners and just above the small dot on the lower corners. Pin them so the unfinished edge is matched along the edge of the green fabric 
2. Stitch the ties in place. Be sure to reverse stitch and normal stick to ensure the hold 
3.  repeat on all six pieces of green fabric
4. With right sides together, and ties and cording on the inside, pin a blue chevron piece to the green piece. It's very important that you make sure your ties are all facing in and free of the seams. Pin them if you need too

 

5. Stitch along THREE sides using the zipper foot. On the top edge, stitch slowly and as close to the cording as possible. On the edges without cording stitch using a standard ½" seam. You may change to a regular foot if you are more comfortable sewing with this on these edges. Leave one short edge open for turning and inserting the bumper pads.
6. Turn the cover right side out so the cording and ties pop out... ta-da!
7. Insert bumper pads into the cover.
NOTE: It will help give you a nice snug fit if you use the corner template to round the corners of the foam just as you did with the fabric panels. I even had to cut about an half inch off the width too to make them fit right without bunching any
8. Turn under the seam allowance so your seam edges are flush to one another, and slip stitch the opening closed.
     
  

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