DIY Fitted Sheet for Pack 'n Play

Whatever you call it (porta crib, playpen, playard, pack n play, portable baby jail) and however you use it (travel crib, baby containment unit, toy storage), you know it gets dirty.  I notice, especially when traveling, that the fabric doesn't seem that comfy for baby either.  When Scarlet was just 12 weeks old we took her cross-country to visit family and she slept in an old travel crib dug up from someone's garage.  The only thing we had to cover the dirty bottom of it was a big fluffy blanket that didn't seem safe for such a young one, so of course I didn't sleep the whole week worrying she was going to suffocate.  Never again!  Sheets for these aren't readily available, so I thought I'd show you how to make a play yard sheet.  I think it's super simple, let me know if you give it a try.

Get the full DIY Pack 'n Play Sheet tutorial after the jump...


DIY Pack 'N Play Sheet Tutorial

This sheet fits my Combi Jazz Play Yard "mattress" which is pretty standard and measures 36" X 26.5" (they're all around 30"x40"), but the sheet is forgiving so if yours is within the general ballpark this sheet should work fine.

1.  Wash, dry and cut your fabric. Add 7 inches to the length and to the width of your mattress, so i cut a piece of fabric 43" X 33.5".  And a piece of 3/4" elastic 60" long.



2.  Fold it in half lengthwise and then widthwise so it looks like this:

On the outside corner, the one with no folds, cut a 3.5" square through all the layers.

Your item now looks like this:



3.  Line up the cut edges at one corner and sew them together with right sides facing:

Repeat on all four corners.

4.  Along the bottom of your sheet, fold the fabric 1/4" to the inside and iron, then 1" and iron, and pin in place.

Starting next to a corner, sew all the way around with a straight stitch, leaving a hole and backstitching and the beginning and end.



5.  Thread your piece of 3/4" elastic through the hole and all the way around. It helps to pin one side of it to an ironing board or some other surface and to use a safety pin to feed it through:

Pull it out and sew both sides together with a stretch stitch or a zig zag stitch.

Close the hole by sewing across the opening with a straight stitch.

You're done!
It looks like this from the bottom:

And like this from the top:



Place your homemade playpen sheet on the mattress.  Yay!