Baby Yost arrives in six weeks so it's time to get started working on the nursery! So far we've painted the walls, painted a dresser to use as a changing table and purchased a crib. To get things moving along I decided to make a ruffled skirt for the crib, something simple without too much frill. This project was super easy and only took me a few hours to make with materials I had on hand.
What you will need:
- One piece of material for the top of the crib skirt that rests under the mattress. I measured the crib and used white cotton fabric I had laying around.
- Three pieces of fabric for each side of the crib skirt (left side, front side and right side... I chose not to make a panel for the back because you can't see it). I made each piece 1 times the length of each side (for a more ruffled look make each two or three times the length). The height of each panel is up to you, I kept it short (around 8" total) so that when the mattress is moved down the skirt will just barely graze the floor.
Step 1: Hem the edges
Begin with the three side panels you cut for your crib skirt. Hem the bottom, right and left sides under leaving the top edge raw.
Step 2: Ruffle the top edge
Ruffling fabric is like magic, you might quickly become addicted and want to ruffle everything! Sew a long basting stitch (that's the longest stitch on your sewing machine) across the top of the entire length of each side panel. Try to leave long tails of thread where you begin and end your stitching.
Lay your fabric across a flat surface and gently pull the tail of the bottom thread, you should see it begin to ruffle the fabric. Continue pulling the thread and move the ruffles down along the fabric until the fabric is as ruffled as you want.
Step 3: Sew it all together
Lay the ruffled panel against the top of the crib skirt material. The fabric should lay wrong sides together, with the raw edges lined up exactly. Pin and sew into place.
Once you're done sewing, flip the crib skirt over and check out your ruffles. If your basting stitch is showing, rip it out. Take a few minutes to iron the ruffles so they look nice and pretty.
Step 4:
Follow step three until all three panels are ruffled and sewn on to the main crib skirt panel. That's it, now go make that cute crib up with your new ruffled skirt and enjoy your handy work!
