curlyQdesign: 2014

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*** I originally posted this tutorial in early 2011, I had my son in June 2011 and have really neglected this blog! But I somehow had this tutorial set to "draft" and have no idea how that happened. I hope you enjoy! ***

I finally finished the crib skirt for our little one's room! I looked up a bunch of different tutorials online, and then decided to take lots of pictures and make one myself. The two tutorials I found most helpful were from Hibler House and For such a time as this.

The first thing I did was cut out the muslin for the crib skirt deck. I purchased 1 1/2 yards of unbleached muslin that was 44 inches wide. I then cut it to 27 inches by 52 inches.

Then I serged around each of the edges of the muslin, since I figure I'll probably be washing the crib skirt plenty and didn't want it to fray. {If you don't have a serger, you can use a zig zag stitch or see if your sewing machine came with an overcast foot. Here's a tutorial I found on how you can use an overcast foot.}

Then you'll want to use a little dab of fray check on each of the corners before you trim the excess thread off. Let the fray check dry for at least 10 minutes before you make the cuts!

I decided to do a single box pleat crib skirt with a contrasting solid band of fabric on the bottom edge. Since our crib has 3 different height adjustments, I measured from the lowest one to the ground and it was just about 13 inches. So, I figured even though at the beginning when the mattress is higher off the ground, I'd rather the crib skirt look polished when it's at the lowest setting.

So I cut the following:
1- 56" by 5" green fabric for front of crib skirt (allowing for 4" pleat)
1- 56" by 10" striped fabric for front of crib skirt (allowing for 4" pleat)
2- 28" by 5" green fabric (one for each side of crib skirt)
2- 28" by 10" striped fabric (one for each side of crib skirt)
(I allowed for a 1/2 inch seam allowance for each hem and joining of seams... so the finished crib skirt would be 27" wide by 13" long for the sides, and 51" wide by 13" long for the front)

Then I serged around each of the edges of the striped fabric, because it really wanted to fray!

Again, use a dab of fray check at each corner and allow to dry before cutting thread ends off.

Next, I ironed a 1/2 inch hem for the bottom edge of the crib skirt.

Use a coordinating thread to sew your bottom hem. I sewed the hem at 5/8 of an inch from the edge.

Next, you'll want to pin together your two fabrics, right sides together. If you've serged only one fabric, pin with that fabric on top, so you can be sure to follow just outside of the thread line.

Then, iron open your seam.

If you don't have a walking foot... seriously consider buying one! It's a huge life saver when dealing with slippery (silk, minky) fabrics or with thick cuts of fabric it makes your life MUCH easier.

Again, when sewing two pieces together and only one piece of fabric has been serged, it's a good idea to have that piece on top, to follow along the thread lines of the serger!

I marked the center point of the middle piece of fabric for the skirt, after the 1/2 inch hem at each side the total measurement of the skirt front was 55 inches. So I put a pin at 27 1/2 inches.

And two inches away to the right and left of that center pin, put another pin to mark where you will fold in to make your box pleat.

Then you'll fold over at those points and pin the pleat into place.

Carefully sew over the pleat to secure it in place.

Almost done! Next, connect the front of the crib skirt to the front edge of the crib skirt deck. I put a pin in the center point of the crib skirt deck and matched it up to the center of the box pleat, and started to pin from the middle towards the outside edges. Our crib has pretty big hinges at the corners to lower the mattress as the baby gets bigger, so I left a small gap at each of the corner so the crib skirt would fall correctly.