The same day we found out we were having another boy, I decided to do a space theme for his nursery. I knew it would be tricky, since we're in a rented house and money is very tight at the moment (paying mortgage on one house while renting another is especially draining on the budget!). I took that as a challenge. Since I had a little extra income from Etsy orders, I put that toward some fabric for crib bedding and burp cloths. I had already decided on trying to make most of it myself since I didn't see any bedding collections I liked online (plus I wanted more than one crib sheet!). My mom sewed up three crib sheets for me the last time they visited; she had made some for Caleb a few years ago and they've held up so well I asked her to do it again!
Anyway, yesterday I sat down with the flannel fabric I had found to make some burp cloths. I've been making these for other people for over two years, so it was a little surreal knowing that they were for my own baby! I made a total of eight; the burp cloths in the last picture were actually made several months back, but since they never sold on Etsy and they fit in great with the space theme, I decided to keep them.
Then last night I decided to get a jump start on the crib bedskirt (or dust ruffle...or whatever you want to call it). I found a great tutorial on Pinterest and figured I'd at least cut out the fabric pieces and then go from there. Each time I finished a step, I ended up going to the next one since I saw how fast it was going. I ended up finishing it an hour and a half later!
I love how it turned out. A few weeks back I went to Jo-Ann when a bunch of fabric was on sale and fell in love with that dotted zig-zag print. It went great with the navy blue solid fabric, and matched the overall space theme without being too busy.
Things got tricky at first; I realized since the zig-zag was a directional print, I couldn't cut all the panels out the same way. So first I cut out the two shorter side panels, then measured what I had left. I figured out I could still just sew two panels together to make the long front panel, and just leave out the pleat in the center. It ended up working perfectly and you can barely notice the seam in the middle. Obviously, the solid navy blue fabric worked great. One thing I like about this style of bedskirt is that it's very sturdy; you end up with a double layer of fabric on all the panels because of the way you sew it all together.
So I was excited when I was done. I got that slightly awed feeling I get whenever I finish a new project and it actually works out. I think, wow, I pulled it off! :o)
You can find the free tutorial for the bedskirt here.
Next up is a baby quilt. I'm actually giving that "wonky baby quilt" pattern pictured in the link above a try. I might try to put my own spin on it to include an initial or even the baby's first name on there, but we'll see. Thanks for reading!
