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About the time we moved my oldest into a toddler bed he had started scraping the paint off of the crib rails with his teeth. We moved him into a toddler bed and the problem was solved.
Enter baby #2.
He’s now 10 months old, cutting his 4th molar (that’s tooth number 12 people) and chewing on EVERYTHING. The other day after naptime my husband walked in to find this….
He had bitten off a chunk of wood! Like an actual chunk. Not just bite marks, not just little nibbles, I’m talking an actual CHUNK. There were little shards of wood all over his crib and I’m 99.9% sure he got a little extra fiber in his diet that morning.
I already had a crib rail on the front since it came with the bedding set, but I always figured it was mostly just for decoration. It never occurred to me that there was actual practicality behind them. The sides of Superman’s crib were being utterly destroyed and I needed to come up with a solution fast.
I started looking at crib rail covers on the internet. The cute ones cost a pretty penny and I wasn’t finding anything that would really fit with his superhero bedroom theme. So I decided to make them.
It was going to be a few days before I could take on this project so I made make-shift covers hoping to buy me a week or so. These consisted of blankets tied around the rails. Well, they lasted a whole night but by the end of his morning nap Superman had ripped them off and was again biting into the rails.
So I made an urgent shopping trip to Joann Fabric & Crafts and found the perfect material for his room. I knew exactly what I was after and was soooooooooo grateful that they still had it in stock. His crib rails will perfectly match his curtains.
The red fabric I used on the back I already had in my stash of unfinished projects. I have absolutely no idea what it was originally destined to become, thus it was turned into crib rail covers. I also bought some quilt batting that was on sale and later picked up some buttons at my neighborhood Walmart.
I almost just did the typical ties but wanted something different. Plus, since I was custom making them anyway the buttons are able to fit perfectly between the slats on the crib. I got large buttons incase they do come off (so I don’t have to worry about choking) and I made sure those babies were affixed remarkably. They aren’t going anywhere. And they will be occasionally checked for looseness, such as after being washed.
In all the total price tag came to $22.39. $7.20 for 2 yards of fabric (I always watch for the sales and coupons), $7.99 for batting, & $7.20 for buttons. As an added bonus, I have extra fabric and batting for some future miscellaneous project I may choose to take on. Also, did I mention they fit perfectly with the superhero theme.
So how did these crib rail covers all come together? Here it is.
Crib Rail Cover Tutorial
Time Needed: Just a few hours
I measured the length of the rails and added 1 inch for seam allowance. I then measured the top of the rail and figured out how far down I wanted the covers to reach. I then added 1 inch for seam allowance. My dimensions were 52″ x 14″ for the front and 27″ x 14″ for the two sides. The back of the crib is raised up higher so I only need one long cover.
This is pretty self explanatory. Once you have the dimensions you need, cut out the fabric and batting to those dimensions. Here’s where my rotary cutter and mat came in handy.
Place the fabric wrong sides together. Place the batting on the top and sew around the edges (you have a 1/2 inch seam allowance on each side). Leave a few inches unsewn to turn the cover right-side-out. The more room you leave the easier it is to flip around, but the more touch-up stitching you have to do.
Work the fabric through the hole that you left open until the entire thing is right-side out. Here is where I would suggest ironing.
Here you have a couple of options. You can hand sew the hole shut using a hidden stitch if you don’t want any thread seen. I didn’t care that much so just used my sewing machine and sewed right along the edge after folding over.
I would suggest laying the crib rail over the actual crib and marking (I used chalk since it brushes right off) where you want the buttons. You want to make sure that they line up in between the slats.
I’m terrible with button holes, but my handy dandy sis has an amazing sewing machine that is a pro at them. So I went over and borrowed it. If you want to learn how to make awesome button holes, I’m not your gal. But there’s a lot of good tutorials to be found. And if you’re one of those crazy people that wants to sew them by hand, here’s a great step-by-step for ya.
I think this was the most time consuming part of the whole project. I’d suggest turning on a good movie you’ve seen before and get cracking. It’s not hard, it just seems to take forever to sew each button on.
Put the covers over the rails and button them on.
Step back, enjoy, and don’t forget to take a picture.
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