Jett's Green and Grey Crib Bumper

Phew! I can't believe what I thought would be such a simple task has taken me as long as it has. Crib bumpers, as it turns out, are not as easy to make as I thought!

I had done a lot of research about the size of most crib bumpers before I began so I had some idea how I was going to tackle this. Best of all, Gen and Brett already had a plain white bumper for me to simply recover. I was sure this was going to be the easiest part of Jett's room. I was wrong. Most bumpers are 10" tall by 160" wide. Gen and Brett's bumper was not. No big deal, though. Theirs was actually a little smaller (8" x 140"), so I simply adjusted my measurements. I'll do my best to put both measurements down in case you want to do a standard bumper or you have a special case like mine!

Here's what you'll need for this project:

• The remainder of the fabric you used for the crib quilt (Not sure how much was left. I know. I should have measured but I really wanted to get this project done. I was so excited, I just forgot!)

• Plain cording and fabric to cover it (either 160" or 140") or pre-made cording or bias tape (I recommend this option as it saves you SO MUCH time and hassle)

• Thread (same as used for the quilt)

• Ribbon for the ties or (if you're really ambitious) enough fabric to make ties out of coordinating fabric. If you do this, I would recommend getting a loop turner because it can be very tedious and almost painful if you try to do it with just your fingers (I actually used a pair of tweezers...but it caused some of the fabric to snag so it wasn't ideal. I just didn't have the option of going out to the store at night to get a loop turner. Gotta work with what you've got!)

• Crib bumper insert or plain crib bumper

• Optional: fray check. This has become my best friend since working with some of the more difficult fabrics. If your fabrics don't fray, you don't really have to worry about this. 

• As always, I had to have my big fat cat. Apparently she didn't want her picture taken as much this time, or maybe I took too long, but I have to tell you, my little scamp of a cat was VERY excited about my materials this time...

To start off with, I'll give you boring measurements. For a regulation-sized bumper, you need to cut your fabric into 10.5" x  20.5" pieces. You'll need 4 of each fabric (if you're using 4 different fabrics like I did). In all, you'll need 16 pieces. For my unusually sized bumper, I had to modify the measurements. I made them 8.5" x 12" and used 24 pieces (6 of each). 

Pinning the pieces together

Sew 12 of the pieces together for the front and 12 for the back. Make sure you use a 1/4" seam and that you keep it consistent or else you'll run into problems later. Like I did. But that was my own fault! :) 

You can do one of two things next. You can either make your ribbons or cover the cord. Because they are both slightly tedious, I went back and forth. I'll explain the ribbons first:

Mercedes really enjoyed
the fabric this time
Can you see her under there?

You'll need 10 long ribbons and 4 short ones. I think they ended up being 12" long for the long ones and 6" for the short ones. I wanted to make things a bit easier on myself, so I cut my fabric into a rectangle 50" x 10" wide and folded it in half. I sewed 6 seams down the length of it. Then I cut the fabric in between the 2nd and 3rd seams and the 4th and 5th seams. Next I cut each strip into 4 equal parts and sewed one end shut. On one strip, you're going to have to cut 2 of your 4 strips in half to make the 4 short ones. Now comes the fun part! Note: if your fabric frays easily, use the fray check to stop it from coming apart before you try to turn them. Time to whip out that loop turner (or tweezers) and turn all of your strips right-side out. Have fun! When you're finished, tuck the open end in and hand stitch it closed. Cat Note: Mercedes was moving too fast for me to catch this on camera, but she absolutely LOVED the ribbon strips and decided they were her prey. Multiple times, I went to grab one and either got attacked by her or found that they were all gone. She had taken them and made a little pile under the bed. I found her with one in her mouth like a dead snake. (if you know me, you'll understand how much this freaked me out...)

For the cording, refer to the instructions on my previous post. You'll have to use either 296" of cording or 340", depending on your bumper measurement. 

Cording and fabric to cover it with

Pinning the Cording into the fabric

Now we assemble everything! It's much like the quilt except you won't have the bumper filling to deal with yet. It's more like stuffing a pillow. Also, you have to figure out where you want the ties to go. I folded them in half and pinned them where I wanted them, with the exception of the short ones. They were pinned on each corner. (Make sure that the ties are not hanging out when you're sewing or else they'll end up on the inside of your bumper...no good)

Right sides of bumper
pinned together

Sew it all together (back side, cording, ties, front side, all right sides facing each other) leaving a section wide enough for open so that you can turn it right-side out. Once you've turned it, it's time to stuff it! Once you've got the bumper inside the cover, you can stitch up the hole and you can be done! (unless you want to tack the cover to the bumper, but I don't think I'm going to do that)

Turned right side out...I think the ties ended up pretty cool! 

Sounds easy, right?! :) Hopefully it won't take you as long as it did me! 

This took me about the same amount of time as the quilt, actually, but work got in the way (why can't the kids nanny themselves? oooh, right, they can't drive...darn!) and I didn't have the same amount of uninterrupted time. I have to admit, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! I'll be sure to upload pics when everything is in the room!