This Crib is BUMPIN!

So in my post yesterday, I mentioned that I found evidence of Nathan chewing/gnawing on the railing of his crib the other day.

All of those little white marks are the damage so far.

Wanting to nip this problem in the bud, I got materials to make a rail bumper to compliment the one we have that goes with his crib set.

His current rail bumper is precious, but too big for the side where we have the problem.

My plan was to just steal the basic design, which is a large padded rectangle with Velcro on the inside, so when you fold it over the rail, it sticks to itself. Easier than ties, if you ask me!

I got started having no idea how it was going to turn out. It's not like I had a pattern, but it's not like the concept was difficult either.

The fabrics I chose compliment the crib set, but aren't exact, but I liked the way it looked with the original stuff. I also grabbed a high loft batting.

I bought new fabric scissors because someone (my husband) used my old ones at some point and then I just kind of wrote them off as being regular scissors, so for this project I wanted new ones. I also decided to give a rotary cutter a whirl for the basic reason that it looks really fantastic when I'm watching Project Runway and they're slicing fabric effortlessly while I am struggling to make a straight cut with my janky scissors.

Let's talk about that rotary cutter and how it is the best tool for someone to sew with. Well, there's not much more to say than it's a great tool and anyone who sews regularly should get one. I used a 50% off coupon I got from the Joann's website and was able to get mine for $12.50 instead of $25. I also wanted a good straight edge and cutting mat so I bought those too.

My sewing in the past has mostly been pretty unadventurous, so I didn't have those items.

I bought 2 yards of the solid color fabric (45" wide) and 1 of the polka dot (45" wide) and then 1 yard of the batting, which was SUPER (90") wide, but it was all I could find in the high loft by-the-yard option. I'm sure I'll find a use for that leftover batting eventually.

I measured the rail I was planning to cover and also measured the existing rail bumper so they would be the same width.

The measurements I used were 29" x 17" for the rectangle. That provided a 2" seam allowance on the long side (I needed it to be 25" by 15") and a 1" seam allowance on the short side. I chose huge seam allowances because having no idea how this project may go, I just felt safe having the extra fabric. It ended up being completely unnecessary, but that's ok.

So I made my giant rectangle, and without thinking, left a long side open. I should have done a short side open, just because it would have been easier, but it worked out fine.

Knowing that I was going to put trim on the edge, I sewed it shut the easiest way since nobody would see that edge. Work smarter, not harder, yo.


Next is the trim. I picked the width based on a little mistake I made trimming the seam allowance off. I got carried away trimming the fastest way with the rotary cutter (I may have been a little over-eager to use it!) and trimmed off part of the seam. Thankfully it was on the ugly edge, so I ended up making wider trim to cover my mistake.

I cut a strip of 8"-ish wide fabric and pinned the edges back. I  just picked a width. I did NOT sew these down until I was actually attaching it to the rectangle because I didn't want the extra line, or the pressure of sewing it exactly on top of a seam.

 I did sew down the short side to keep the edges from getting weird.

 

I originally cut the strip when the fabric was doubled over, then cut that piece in half so I would only have to make the long cut once. After I got the strips pinned, I pinned them onto the rectangle.

Then I cut another strip of the trim to run across the long side. I wasn't sure if I was going to to both long sides or just one (since one side is on the inside of the crib) and I repeated the process of pinning and attaching to the rectangle.

When attaching the rectangle, I knew I wanted it to be mitered, so I looked up how to miter, and I was too ADD to watch videos and read several different sets of instructions to make sense of it all, so I just made it up as I went.

The next pictures show how I did my own take on a mitered edge (ha!)

 

It only looks pretty from the front. The back...not so much.

See? It's not pretty on the back side (above) but it works. The front corners aren't sewn down, but on the back side, I did a hand-stitch that makes Dr. Frankenstein look like a skilled tailor. The truth is I didn't care about how the back looked because it's going to be folded so nobody will see it. I doubt that the Queen of England or Martha Stewart is going to come over and demand that they see the inside of this rail bumper, you know? So I didn't waste my time making it pretty.

Then I sewed the trim down. I ended up only doing the trim on one side. It wasn't important enough to me to cut and pin another piece of the trim. (Those faux-mitered corners were a trial and error success the first time, I didn't think I'd be as lucky the second time).

Ok, so it's not perfect, but I figured if it was awful, I'd make another.

 The next step was getting the Velcro on. The bumper we already have has a long strip across the bottom and a few going perpendicular to the long strip, but I felt like I didn't need the short strips. If I felt I needed them, I could always go back.

Again, working smarter, not harder. I didn't want to take time to do extra work that wasn't necessary!

Did you know they make IRON-ON Velcro? I didn't until yesterday!

 I stuck the strips of Velcro together, trimmed them to the right length and stuck them to the fabric ready to iron them on.

Pardon my busted nails. I painted them yesterday on a whim and they weren't dry when Nathan wanted my attention.

I ironed the Velcro on with the bumper folded over and just flipped it to get both sides done. The only downside was that I wasn't thinking and the iron melted the batting on the inside, but I didn't care. It's just not as fluffy as the top portion.

As soon as I got the Velcro finished, I put it on to see if I was happy with it!

I'm very happy with it! When it's on, you can't really see the flaws, thank goodness!

So I brought Nathan in to break it in!

The bumpers don't match, but the colors in the bumper I made are in his room and in the comforter.

It didn't take him long to go for his favorite spot. That's directly on top of the part of the crib where he left marks.

Mom...this is different.

I decided not to make one for the other side because he NEVER stands there, and if he starts to, then I'll make one, but he actually loves his mobile and that's in the way and...I'm just not wasting that energy!

Once I had it figured out, it wasn't too hard to do. I know it would take me half the time to make another if I needed to. I'm feeling like Martha again, y'all. ;)

I would like to thank my sweet husband who watched Nathan pretty much all day by himself while I worked on this project. You are appreciated! <3