crib bedding 101

I have had a lot of requests for my bedding measurements, so without further ado, here are the measurements I used for my crib bedding.  The measurements should work just fine for most cribs, but just to be safe, make sure to measure your own crib to double check that the measurements will work for yours.

First things first- Here are the amounts of fabric I purchased for each section of the bedding:

Bumper:

4.6 yards of fabric total (168" L X 45" W)

If you want to do 1 print on the outside and a different print on the inside, you will need 2 1/3 yard of each fabric (84").

Ties for the Bumper:

I did 12 ties total.  You can make yours thicker or thinner, whatever you prefer.  For the size that I have, you will need a total of 1 yard (you will have a little left over).

Piping:
I couldn't find the piping color that I wanted, but they do sell pre-made piping in a few different colors.  If you can, try to find piping that is already pre-made.  It makes things a lot easier.

You will need 4 1/2 yards of piping
(If you are making your own piping, you only need about 1 yard of fabric to cover the piping and 4 1/2 yards of uncovered piping.)

Dust Ruffle:

1 1/2 yards of white fabric for the top part that lays under the mattress.  This can be the very inexpensive white muslin since it will not show.

2 1/2 yards of fabric for the dust ruffle.

*note:  You will need 4 of the long sides and 4 of the short sides cut total.  I specified that you will need 2 of each in the directions above assuming that a different fabric would be used for the front and back of the bumper pads.

The tie measurements above with give you ties that are 1 1/2" wide.  Once you have your ties completed, fold them in half, and spread the ends to form a V.  Then, place them on the right-side of the bumper pad that you want to be facing out, like so:

(since the bars on cribs are not all spaced out the same, you will need to measure and mark where you want your ties to be so that they will match up with the bars on your crib)

If you are using piping, next you will place the piping along the top of the bumper, with the selvage edges matching up with the selvage edges of the bumper:

(make sure you use a zipper food when attaching the side with the piping so that you stitch as close to the piping as possible)

Make sure to add the ties to the bottom as well.  Before laying what will be the backside of the bumper piece on top of this front bumper piece (right-sides together), this is what it should look like:

If you don't have bumpers that you are going to cover, you can just make your own.  I purchased a large foam pad from Joann's that was 23" X 61" and about 2 1/2" thick.  Then I cut 2 strips that were 50 1/2 " X 12" and 2 that were 23" X 12" so that they would fit snugly along the sides of the crib.

Next is the crib skirt.  This is really simple, only a few straight lines.  Just remember that you only need one long side cut for the front of the crib skirt, since nobody will see the back of the crib.

And there you go!  For some, it might be worth it to just purchase the bedding of your dreams for $300 since this is a pretty time consuming project.  But if your are a fairly intermediate sewer, make your own!  It is so satisfying to have exactly the bedding with the fabrics and colors that you have been dreaming about.

*piping tutorial coming soon