Fitted Crib Sheet Tutorial with French Seams

Crib sheets are easy, fast, and fun to make. They also make a great gift alongside a matching quilt. Just purchase an extra 2 yards of a matching fabric when selecting fabrics for the quilt to make a matching crib sheet. 

Fitted Crib Sheet Tutorial with French Seams

This is a tutorial for a standard US fitted crib sheet that will fit a 28" x 52" crib mattress.

Supplies

 - 2 yards of fabric 44/45” wide

 - 2 yards of 1/4” elastic

 - 2 safety pins

 - Wonder Clips

 - Ruler larger than 8” square or a piece of paper cut to 8” square 

1. Cut fabric to 68” long. Leave the 44/45” intact with the selvage on. 

2. Fold the fabric so that all 4 outer corners are on top of each other. Place the ruler to measure an 8” square. Mark both sides with a pen & then cut with scissors. I suggest cutting with scissors for this step instead of using a rotary cutter so you don’t accidentally cut too far into the fabric at the inside corner.

3. Start with one corner and match up the pieces, wrong sides together. Pin fabrics together. (I know this seems backwards, but it is how we will hide all the raw edges.) Sew with a scant 1/4” seam. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam. Trim any loose threads.

4. Press the seam to one side.

5. Now fold the corner seam fabrics right sides together to encase the original seam. Pin the fabrics together and sew a 3/8” seam. Backstitch at the beginning and end of this seam.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 with remaining 3 corners.

7. Now we need to create a casing to house the elastic. Fold up 1/4" and then 1/2" and finger press followed by clipping in place with Wonder Clips. You could press with an iron here, but perfection in this step isn't needed and I like to save time, so you can just skip pressing with an iron and clip this in place.

Fold 1/4" up and finger press

Fold additional 1/2" up and finger press

Clip in place

8. When you get to the corner seams you need to keep them all going in the same direction... this will be essential when you go to put the elastic in. I pressed them all to the right as shown in the photo below.

9. Create the casing by sewing just inside the top edge of the fold and removing clips as you go. Backstitch at the beginning and end of this seam. Leave a 2" opening in the casing to thread the elastic through.

10. Cut elastic to 2 yards long and put a safety pin on each end. The second safety pin is there to make sure you don't lose the end of the elastic by accident. (I did this once...)

11. Use the safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing. Make sure you go in the same direction as the corner seams so that you don't get caught at the corners. (I had that problem too...)

12. Thread the elastic all the way through until you are back at the start. Pull both ends out and overlap them by 2" as shown and clip in place.

13. Use a zig-zag stitch to secure the ends of the elastic. It is important to use a zigzag stitch so that it will stretch along with the elastic.

14. Pull & Push the remaining elastic into the casing by easing it around the entire sheet.

15. Stitch the opening closed. You may need to stretch this area as shown to finish the seam since the elastic will want to pull it tight. Backstitch at the beginning and end of this seam.

16. Adjust the elastic so it is even around the entire sheet.

17. Wash the sheet, put it on the crib, and enjoy!

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

Sensory Play Blanket Tutorial

As Nate is growing and playing with anything that he can get his hands on, it's given me a few ideas on what I can make for him when I can find some time to get into the sewing studio. I went through my stash to find fabrics of various textures to make him this Sensory Play Blanket. 

Sensory Play Blanket - 16" x 18"

Supplies

- Crinkle Material

- 6 pieces of fabric at least 9" by 11" - I used cotton, corduroy, laminated fabric, flannel and Cuddle. All of the fabrics I used for the triangles were designed by Ann Kelle.

- Muslin scrap at least 9" x 11"

- FQ of fabric for backing. I suggest Cuddle or Minky because the softness of this type of fabric adds to the sensory experience.

- 1/4 yard of quilting cotton fabric for binding
- Optional - Violet Craft Seam Roller

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Notes about the supplies:
-I  opted to use the Crinkle Material in only one of the triangle panels. You'll need additional scraps of muslin if you'd like to use it in more than one panel.
- This can be made with any combination of fabrics: 3 flannel + 3 cotton; 2 cuddle, 2 slicker, 2 crinkle; etc. I just used what I had on hand to create the biggest variety of textures that I could.

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How to create a triangle with Crinkle Material

1. Cut a rectangle at 9" x 11" from your main fabric, muslin and crinkle.

2. Layer together with the Crinkle between the 2 layers of fabric.

3. Baste around the three layers together to stabilize them before cutting the triangle.

4. Lay ruler as shown and use a pen to mark the 2 sides where you will eventually cut the triangle.

5. Rotate ruler and align one pen mark under the solid 8 1/2" triangle line and the other pen mark with the top of the ruler. Mark along the right edge with the pen to finish marking all 3 sides.

6. Baste 1/8" inside of the pen marks to secure the fabrics and Crinkle together.

Basting can be seen here.

7. Place the ruler back on top of the pen marks and cut the first 2 sides of the triangle.

8. Rotate the ruler as shown to cut the third side of the triangle.

Now you can use this like any other 8 1/2" triangle cut from the Super Sidekick Ruler.

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How to create a Sensory Play Blanket

1. Cut a 8.5" triangle from each 9" by 11" fabric. Start by trimming the fabric to be 8.5" x 11" and align ruler to top & bottom edges of the strip. Cut along right edge of ruler to trim strip.

2. Flip the ruler over to backside. Align ruler to top and bottom edges of the strip & align the cut edge of the fabric strip with the 8 ½” line. Cut along edge of ruler to complete the triangle.
Note: It can be helpful to use a rotating mat for this step. Alternately you can move the fabric and ruler, but with stretchy fabrics such as Cuddle you risk distorting the fabric by moving it.

3. Repeat to cut a total of 6 triangles from a variety of textured fabrics.

4. Arrange 6 triangles into a hexagon.

5. Sew a pair of triangles together using a 3/8" seam. I suggest a 3/8" seam here instead of 1/4" because of the variety of different fabrics. Press seam open using Violet Craft Seam Roller. A seam roller is helpful since some of these fabrics should not be exposed to an iron.

Use pins in all fabrics except Slicker or laminated cotton as it makes permanent holes.

6. Add a 3rd Triangle to create a half hexagon

Use wonder clips when sewing Slicker to avoid making permanent holes.

If you are using Cuddle or Minky, position that fabric on top when sewing. It stretches and it is easier to manage this way.

Start sewing at the center point of the half hexagon. Remove clips as you go.

Use roller to press seam open.

Sometimes the cuddle stretches so much that the pieces don't line up at the end. This is OK and we will resolve it once the entire top is sewn together.

7. Repeat sets 3 & 4 to make another half hexagon

8. Sew half hexagons together to make a full hexagon. I suggest clipping the center seam with Wonder Clips and opening it to check alignment as shown.

Sew a couple of inches of the center seam as shown and check again to make sure the points match up. It is much easier to take out just this small part vs taking out an entire long seam.

Finish sewing center seam and press seam open using Violet Craft Seam Roller.

9. Layer with backing. No batting needed.

10. Quilt - I like to keep the quilting to a minimum so that Nate can focus on feeling the texture of the fabrics vs the texture of the quilting. I started by stitching in the ditch across all 3 seams.

Then I quilted lines 1" from each of the ditches.

Quilting can be seen here.

11. It is also helpful to baste around the entire piece to hold everything together before binding. Trim off excess backing.

Here you can see I lined the ruler up with the points seams and trimmed the excess cuddle fabric and backing.

12. Bind & Enjoy! - How to Bind Hexagons

Nate's a fan of his sensory blanket!

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/