Today’s guest post comes from the lovely Laura of A Pug in the Kitchen. Laura is a stay-at-home mom from Ohio who keeps busy with a 2 year old son and a 5 month old daughter. When they nap she writes, crafts, cooks and hangs laundry on the line so they can smell sunshine even when they dry dishes!
Do you walk into a fabric store and find yourself immediately thrilled by all the potential projects you could do? Do you see the colors and the patterns and think of just the right person to be the project recipient? I do. I love pretty bedding, but when it comes to my crib sheets, I’m not always able to find exactly what I’m looking for in a regular store. However, I can walk through the cotton quilting section of any fabric store and suddenly feel like I have thousands of options… because I actually do! Once I learned how to make my own crib sheets, I can’t stop. I love, love, love making a special gift for a new baby that is personal and practical. I’ve now made over a dozen sheets using this pattern in cotton and flannel. Next up to try is jersey knit!
The first thing you need is you fabric. You’ll need 2 yards of 45 inch wide material. I always wash mine before I sew it and the fabric then shrinks to about 70 inches long, which is perfect, so I just trim off the lose threads and iron out all the wrinkles.
Next, I fold the material in half (lengthwise) and then half again so that I can line up my corner template that is 8 inches by 8 inches. This cuts out the material needed for the corner pockets.
Then, I match the corners, right sides together to form the pocket. I sew the material together with a 5/6 inch seam. Since I don’t have a serger, I then fold the edges into themselves and do a zig-zag stitch to prevent the material from fraying and also strengthen the seam. Repeat this for all 4 corners.
Next is the pocket for the elastic. I use 2 yards of ¼ inch thick elastic so I make the pocket about 5/8 inch deep. Make sure you leave an open space for threading the elastic into the sheet. I zig-zag stitch the entire pocket seam.
Now the whole sheet is put together, it’s time to thread the elastic. Before you do anything, attach a safety pin to the threading end of the elastic. This way, you can push it through the pocket easily; please believe me when I tell you this. Using the safety pin, it takes just a few minutes to thread the elastic. I didn’t use a safety pin for the first 2 sheets I made and it took me almost 2 hours to thread the elastic.
Once the elastic is threaded, sew the ends together firmly; I like to use the zig-zag stitch for this as well. Finally, sew the opening closed and even out the elastic in the pocket.
This pattern fits a standard sized crib mattress.
