Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Craft-tastic Tuesdays - Crib bedding Series 4 of 4 - Crib Sheet

This is the fourth post in the crib bedding series.


This is the finale here. I have finally completed my crib set and though I have a few small projects left on my list for Meara's room this is the end of the Crib Bedding Series. I hope that these posts might inspire a few nice bedding projects for you.
Because I happened across The Insecure Quilter's Piped Crib Sheet Tutorial which is exactly what I had in mind for this project, I would like to encourage you to read this tutorial as well before tackling this project. I took a lot of inspiration from Jamie's tutorial but there are a few small differences in the way our sheets were constructed, but our product is the same.
So with out any more of the blah blah, here we go!

Materials:
1 1/2 yards prewashed cotton for top panel
1 1/2 yards prewashed cotton for side panels
6 yards of piping (I probably used less but this is what I had estimated for the project and feel free to make your own)
1 yard of 1/4" braided elastic (you can use your preference for elastic here, I just had this on hand from my diaper making)
Basic sewing notions

You may want to buy a larger cut for your fabrics because once mine had shrunk and I cut off the fringe from washing I had exactly the length I required. I was lucky it didn't shrink more than it had.

Because this project has the extra detail of the piping and the coordinating fabrics, it is meant to be a show piece on the bed. This makes a snug fit very important, so measure your mattress and be sure.
My finished project measurements are 28"x52"x8" and I use a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Cut your fabric pieces to the following measurements (alter these if your mattress requires a different size).
Top panel - 53"x29"
Side panels - 53"x9" (cut 2)
End panels - 29"x9" (cut 2)

I didn't take any photos while applying the piping, I did this project over several days and assumed that I had some, apparently not.
Once your fabric is ready, apply the piping to your top panel, keeping your 1/2" seam allowance in mind. You want to start off in the middle of one of the sides and leave a tail of an inch and a half of piping unsewn. You will use this when you come back around to close the piping in a less visible way. This tutorial from Punkin Patterns explains how to do this and if you have never applied piping before, make sure to practice a little on some scraps.

Now that the top panel is ready to go, lets assemble the sides. Take an end and a side panel and pin the ends together with right sides facing. Mark 1/2 and inch from the end, where you will stop stitching (this will help you when attaching the top to the sides. Continue sewing the ends together until you have a loop.
I spent a good long while adjusting the length of the sides (trimming and stitching), because my top was actually a little smaller than I had originally intended so I had to match up my sides. My finished size was about an inch smaller both by length and width but I ended up with a perfect fit.

I also neglected to take any pictures of pinning and attaching the top to the sides but this is fairly easy. Because you left half an inch sewn all around this will make pinning and sewing easier. I also clipped the corners off but it isn't necessary. Pin the top to the sides, right sides facing and making sure your corner seams match up to the corners on the top. When you sew it together you will need to go slowly around the corners to keep them tight against the piping while not running over the piping (I was too loose on the first corner and had to go back to fix it and I sewed a little over the piping in the second corner, but it was barely noticeable so I lazily left it).

It looks like a sheet now! Go ahead, slip it over the mattress and see how it fits. I couldn't resist doing this. We are ready to finish up now.


This is where my tutorial deviates from Jamie's, I serged all my raw edges, and since I have a different way of applying the elastic, I opted to lazily serge instead of hem the bottom edge of the sheet as well.
Start by serging the side seams first, then to the seams attaching the top to the sides and finally, if you are wanting to take the short cut as I did, then go ahead and serge the bottom edge (you can use a zigzag stitch if you don't have a serger but you may want to hem the bottom edge with a narrow seam instead).
The hand holding the camera would be pulling the elastic tight on the lower photo.
I like to fix the elastic to the fabric instead of sewing an elastic casing. There are a few reasons for this choice, I don't like threading the elastic through, I use this method on my diapers with great success, and I can use half as much elastic and still be just as effective.

Only your corners will gather but you will still get a very snug fit
Cut your elastic into four 9" pieces then, on the wrong side of your sheet, mark 9" from one of the corner seams. Set your machine to a narrow zigzag stitch. Make a few stitches to fix it to the fabric and then with the needle down pull as tight as it goes and begin stitching it to the edge of your sheet. You will want to go slow and use one hand to pull the stitches you have already sewn out while the other hand holds the fabric going in as well as pulls the elastic tight as you stitch. Go ahead and practice on scraps if you like.
Once the elastic is applied in all the corners you will want to go back and deal with any loose serger threads if you haven't already. Then, you are done.

Isn't it pretty?
And since this is the final post in the Crib Bedding Series are you ready for the reveal?

Scroll down...








further....






Almost there....






Drum roll please!!!





tadum tadum tadum...



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