DIY Cute Crib Sheet

You know the nesting urge set in and you invested in a giant crib set only to find out within a few months that it was virtually useless.  The bumpers are dangerous and come off before the baby even sleeps in it, and the skirt lasts a few months but comes off as soon as she learns to sit up.  And if you're like me, your child has one special blanket she insists on sleeping with, so you are left to play around with fanciful sheets.

With so many adorable fabrics available there's no reason to stick to store-bought crib sheets, especially when it's so simple to make them yourself.  I made my first crib sheet today and I think I'll do it a little differently next time, but it turned out great and took less then an hour!

Get the full Crib Sheet DIY after the jump...

How to Sew a Crib Sheet

1.  Pre-wash your fabric and cut it to 68" long - just under two yards.  Your fabric is most likely the standard 44/45" wide, so you can leave the selvage edges (then you won't have to seam them).  I used this beautiful Alexander Henry:

2.  Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and cut an 8"X8" square out of each un-folded corner.  Save your four 8" squares of fabric for another project:

3.  Take the two 8" sides at the corner and place them right sides together, then sew with a straight stitch. Repeat at each corner to make your mattress pockets:

4.  Fold the unfinished edges (the non-selvage shorter sides) under, iron and hem with a straight stitch.  i actually think this looked sort of messy so next time I will fold and iron all four sides under and hem, but the truth is no one is going to see the bottom of the sheet so it doesn't matter:

5.  Now cut four 9" pieces of 3/4" elastic.  Fold a piece of elastic in half and pin the middle of it to the bottom of the corner seam you just made.  Stretch it as far as you can along the selvedge edge and pin the end of it to the fabric, then do the same thing on the hemmed edge:

When you let go the fabric will be bunched up like so:

6.  Set your machine to a stretch stitch if you have it (this will help ensure that the stress on the elastic during use doesn't rip your fabric). Stretch stitch is #17 in the picture below, look for a similar diagram on your machine. If you don't have a stretch stitch just use a zig zag:

7.  Put the pinned end of the elastic and fabric into your machine, lower the presser foot and turn the wheel to get the needle into it to hold it in place.  Now stretch the elastic all the way out so it is flush with the fabric, and hold it taught as you sew it in place.  I did it in two bursts, one end to the middle seam, then the middle seam to the other end.  Repeat on all four corners.  It took me the first few corners to get used to it, the last corner looked the best:

Now just iron it and you're done:

I think sewing the elastic to the outside was a bit challenging and doesn't look as polished as I'd like, but it does look great in the crib.  Next time I will fold and iron the inner seams 1/4" all the way around, then fold and iron another 3/4" to create a pocket, leave a hole and feed the elastic through with a safety pin, and sew the elastic to itself to create a more finished looking sheet with elastic all the way around.  I'll post when I do that.

Prudent Price for one crib sheet:
Store:  One Dwell Studio crib sheet (because we're using designer fabrics I'm comparing to a designer sheet - there's always target for a cheaper then homemade option) - $36.00
DIY: Two yards Alexander Henry Granville fabric in pink at Purl Soho - $18 (with extra left over for future projects)