Not So Quick Zig Zag Crib Skirt Tutorial
I went down to my sister’s to visit her family and meet my new nephew. While I was there, she mentioned that she had made curtains for the nursery with curtain clips and hem tape. She thought maybe she could use the hem tape to make a crib skirt as well. I did not think that sounded like a very good idea.
While I was there, I took a couple quick measurements.
The crib base is 51″ x 29″ and we decided the skirt should have a finished length of 8″.
Since the crib has a changing table on one end, only two sides will be skirted.
I’m using this fabric from Fabric.com for the skirt.
For the top, I’m using a white broadcloth. The top piece should be cut at 51 7/8″ x 29 7/8″
51″ for the length of the crib base + 3/8″ for the seam with the skirt on the left + 1/2″ for the hem on the right = 51 7/8″
29″ for the width of the crib base + 3/8″ for the seam with the skirt on the front + 1/2″ for the hem on the back = 29 7/8″
There’s also a very good chance I just cut this 52″x30″ and called it good. :)
Skirt measurements:
The width of the box pleat depends on the width of the zigzags. This is also a matter of personal choice. In this case, I went with a pleat that was the width of a W’s worth of zigzags.
Measuring, that’s 7.5″, which means we need to add 15″ to the skirt width to account for the fabric that’s going to be folded over to make the pleat.
Not too bad, right? So the skirt fabric on the left (short) side will need to be 45″ x 8 7/8″
Following the same formula, the front skirt fabric will need to be 67″ x 8 7/8″. This means the front skirt fabric piece needs to be longer than the width of the fabric, so it will be necessary to seam it and hide the seam in the pleat.
I’m going to deal with the short side skirt fabric first because it is simpler.
First, I know I want a half inch hem, and I want to have the blue points at the bottom of the hem. I need to straighten out the last cut line on this fabric, so I find the closest row of zigzags that still have half an inch past them on the fabric.
There, that’s better!
Now that I have a straight line, I need to cut the width to 8 7/8″. I don’t cut the length yet, because I need to make sure the pleat will end up in the center. And I want the zigzag to match up on a point, so I can’t simply fold the piece in half to place my pleat. (If this were a solid or horizontal stripe, it would be fine to cut the length now.) I find the zigzag that is upward and closest to the middle of this piece and finger press the pleat just to make sure I’m still going to have enough length. Looks good!
At this point, I’m going to mark my center. Since the piece I need here should be 45″, I need 22.5″ on both sides of that center.
Hem the short sides. Please use the iron. I’m using my Dritz EZY-Hem to turn up and press a 1/4″ and then folding that under and pressing.
Since this is a pretty small hem, I moved my needle over to the right a bit so I can keep more of the fabric under the presser foot and on the feed dogs while I’m stitching.
Not too bad!
Hem the bottom, and if you carefully cut those zigzags so they would have all their points aligned at the bottom, double check to make sure you are hemming the bottom and not the top!
Now that the hems are done, it’s time to put in the pleat. Remember, the iron is your friend. Also, a little spray starch never hurt anyone. (Or at least I don’t think it did. I suppose it’s possible. Please read and follow any and all warning labels just to be safe!)
Pin the pleat in place and then stitch across the top in the seam allowance. This will make it easier to keep everything nice and neat when the skirt is attached to the top.
Now repeat all of this for the longer skirt piece that will go in the front. I had to seam this one, so I fretted a lot about where the seam should go. I knew I wanted to hide it in the pleat, but where? In the back layer? In the middle layer? I kept pinning and holding it up trying to guess what would be better. Helenanne, who’s very wise, reminded me that this is for a baby. Anyone seeing it is not there to view the crib skirt, they are there to see my adorable little nephew. I have trouble remembering these things.
A quick tip for matching patterns when seaming:
Place pieces right sides together and hold against a sunny window. Pin together!
Normally, I’d just seam this by running it through the serger. Since this is going to have a small hem, I use the sewing machine so I can press the seam open and there’s less bulk. I trimmed the seam allowance with my munchy scissors, aka pinking shears.
Once the skirt panels are complete, this finishes up quickly.
Attach the short side panel to a short end of the base piece, right sides together, leaving a half inch on what will be the back side for the hem allowance. This leaves about the same amount on the side where the front skirt panel will be attached. It’s about a half inch on either side.
Once the short side is attached, line up the long side, leaving about half an inch in the corner that’s shared with the short side. I forgot to take a pic when I laid it out, but this is how it looks when both skirt panels are attached to the base piece.
With the entire piece right side up, press the seams. Pin the side hems of the skirt base.
Next, make the corner where the two skirts meet nice and neat.
Place the piece wrong side up, and pull the corner of the base under the skirt seams you just pressed. There should be a little triangle of base fabric there. Press well.
This will get tacked down with the topstitching and hemming.
Stitch all the way around the rectangle of the base piece – you are putting the hem on the sides without the skirt and topstitching the sides with skirt pieces.
Now my cutting table has a lovely skirt. See the corner where that base bit got folded in a triangle?
That little space there will make the skirt hang nicely around the corner pieces of the crib.
And that’s it!
Happy Sewing!
Kelly
Snack bag tutorial
Snack Bags!
We’re going to make 3 snack size bags, but once you have the process down, you can make them any size you like.
Aplix/touchtape/velcro closure snack bags
1. Start with a Fat Quarter (FQ) cotton woven, which will be approximately 22″x18″.
2. Fold it in half, wrong sides together, so you now have a piece that’s 11″x18″.
3. Press the fold. In the picture, the fold is on the bottom.
4. Leave it folded and cut into 3 pieces. You will have 3 pieces that are 11″x6″ when folded.
First cut line:
Second cut line:
All cut!
5. Cut a piece of 1.5″ wide aplix loop (ie, the fuzzy side) 4″ long.
Attach aplix to fabric 1/2″ from fold, and center across (about 1″ from each edge).
I use an 80/12 universal needle and a medium zig zag stitch.
Put the piece back on your table, aplix side down, folded end closest to you.
6. Bring the fold up 4″, so your top flap is 3″.
7. Draw your rounded corners on the top flap. Quilter’s templates, round pattern weights, french curves or canned goods from the pantry all work well as tools to help you draw a smooth curve.
I start my curve about 1″ from where my folded fabric is. Look closely at the arrows and you should be able to barely see where my air erase marker lines are already fading!
8. Starting at one end, serge all the way around. (If you are using aplix, you will have already attached the loop part. I was putting a different closure on this bag.)
9. Attach the hook (scratchy) side now.
Attach about 1/2″ from top of flap, centering. I use 1″ hook for this side rather than 1.5″, just because it’s a little easier to pull apart that way, but if you only have 1.5″, that will work, too.
Alternate closures – snaps, buttons, elastic
Skip step 5, unless you want to attach your buttons at that step. I like to use two and attach them 1.5″ from the top of the fold and 1.5″ from the edge.
Attach closures at step 9.
Buttons – sew buttons on if you didn’t do it at step 5. I like to use two and attach them 1.5″ from the top of the fold and 1.5″ from the edge. Create button holes on flap. You can also use one button in the middle.
Snaps – same placement as buttons. I put sockets on the flap, but it’s really just personal preference.
Elastic – 5.5″ of 1/4″ elastic, attached with a short zig zag. Attach wherever your curve started. 1/8″ elastic will also work. 3/8″ is kind of big and may look a little funny on smaller bags, but it will do that job.
(You can attach the elastic at the same time as you serge around if you like, I just feel better about the tacking.)
After my assistant put a couple legos in it:
Foldover Closure Snack Bags
Steps 1-4 from above
5. Fold fabric right sides together and sew/serge raw ends together
Folded:
And serged:
6. Turn fabric right side out and press seam.
7. Lay flat and bring original folded end up to create 3″ flap at the top.
8. Fold seamed side under 2 3/4″ and press
In the picture, the 2 3/4″ side is underneath. See how there’s a 1/4″ between the original fold and the new fold we just made? That gives it a little wiggle room when we flip it over to close the bag later.
The back now looks like this:
9. Serge both open sides.
Here’s the front:
And here’s the back
To close the bag, take the back flap and flip it over the front.
It will look like this:
All done!
These were serged with a 80/12 ball point needle using a 3 thread overlock stitch. I used Wooly Nylon in both loopers and Maxi-Lock in the right needle. On my machine, I set the stitch length just past 2 and the width at 3.5.
Want to make it in a different size? No problem. To make a single bag, first decide how wide you want it to be. Then decide how tall it should be. I usually make the flap 3/4 the size of the height of the bag, which gives room for the curve. If you do it that way, you will need a piece that is the width you want by the length * 5.5.
Snack Bag Tutorial by Kelly Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.