Crib Rail Cover

I have probably 5 or more posts that I "need" to do, but I just finished this project and am actually quite happy with the outcome. The other week I noticed teeth marks on the dragon's crib. I've never caught him biting it, so I didn't think it was happening. I was wrong. Thus a new project was born. I'd heard about crib rail covers and people making them, so I turned to google (not Pinterest *gasp*) and found this tutorial http://www.babyrabies.com/2009/02/shes-crafty/. It was definitely more complicated than just buying some fleece and tying it around the rail, but Hobby Lobby still had the fabric I used to make a table cloth last year for the little table in his room. Seemed like the universe was telling me to get sewing!

First Step: Measure the crib length and width of the rail.

Second Step: Cut the fabric. This job is much easier now that I have a cutting mat and rotary cutter.

 I decided to use two patterns for the long front, so I had to do some math and then sew the three pieces together.

Next, I measured and cut the quilted batting. I had to add some extra to one side because the long piece is longer than one yard. No biggie. 

The original blogger said that the next step of making the ties was a PITA and she was NOT kidding. She mentioned a type of ribbon you could buy, but I did not want to spend more money on special ribbon. So, I spent hours turning these strips inside out. Sewing them wasn't hard and was good practice in sewing straight lines (and occasionally fighting with my machine), but turning them face-out took a while. I eventually managed to speed up the process using a wooden spoon, but I was hesitant with it because I didn't want to push out the already sewn end (which did happen once or twice). The real PITA though, was the fact that my math skills weren't working and I kept having to go back and cut/sew/turn out more pieces. Seriously...why did I not just count correctly the first time?!? I think the tutorial confused me here a bit because I didn't account for the fact that I was doing three sides and she was only explaining about one at a time. Still...I should have realized that. 

Pinning is never my favorite thing, but there was a lot of it in this project. I dutifully ironed up the sides a half-inch and pinned that to the quilted batting.

The next step is to lay the ties out where you want them to be. I took the pieces up to the crib and used pins to mark where I wanted them to go. Then it was back to the craft room, I mean dining room, to pin them onto the pieces. 

Finally, it was time to sew everything together. I won't say this went off without a hitch, but it wasn't too bad. I had to stop to re-do the bobbin twice during this whole project (and that's always fun times...not). I will not say that my stitching is the straightest or best looking thing every, but it's not too terribly awful either.

Ta-da! The final product!

I will likely need to make one for the back rail too...must figure out if I have enough left-over fabric.