Shut Up and Sew: Dream Crib Sheet

When I found out last month that I was having a little girl, I called several friends immediately to let them know the news.

Me: "It's a girl! I'm so excited!"

Them: "Yay!...Were you hoping for a girl?"

Me: "No, I didn't care either way. It's just that my favorite fabrics are all for girls!"

It's true folks, there are some sweet patterns out there for our little ladies.

There are adorable things for boys too, of course, but never having the need to browse the "girls section" of the fabric aisles before, it is a newfound pleasure and I have been loving it. Particularly since we had crazy inclement weather hit immediately after we found out the gender, which prevented me from heading to the store to browse sweet little lady dresses and bloomers, so instead I browsed Etsy for sweet little patterns. And I found them.

I fell head over heels in love with these adorable elephants. They are Ele-Fete Shell from Cloud Nine fabrics, and I got them from the incredible shop, Cedar House Fabrics. Lela, the owner of the shop, is super helpful, replied to my convos right away, and put them in the mail that day! How wonderful is that?! I can't say enough about a shop with great customer service and FAST shipping!!

There was all sorts of love when these fabrics arrived at my house. I squealed when I opened the package. (I may have even snuggled the fabric a little bit.)

I don't necessarily have a thing for elephants, but I love the simple features of these little elephants, and come on, they are holding strands of bunting!! Really, does it get any cuter?!

When I saw this fabric I knew that it had to make it's way into the baby bedding. Those sweet elephants just killed me, and the fabric is 100% organic cotton so it is super soft. I received several bits of fabric in the mail in the past few weeks for various projects, and this is by far the softest. It's exactly what you'd want up against that sweet newborn skin. PERFECT for the crib sheet.

I washed it, ironed it, and was ready to go.

I followed a great tutorial for a crib/toddler bed sheet found here, by Dana from Made. Dana is a sewing genius, and I knew that whenever I finally decided to give sewing a shot, that I'd have to try out a few of her tutorials. It turns out that some projects actually are as easy as they seem. But this was my first time sewing something that required a substantial amount of fabric, and something that required elastic, but I was ready. And the result was just perfect.

I did enlist the help of this fancy walking foot for this project and was so happy that I did. I hope you can see in this picture, but the walking foot (or even feed foot) has these black teeth on the bottom of it that help grip the fabric and move it through the sewing machine with the feed dogs that are located on the bottom of your machine. (Several of you mentioned that this would help me to keep my fabric lined up better as I was sewing-thanks for the GREAT tip!!)

Since this tutorial requires making a casing to hold the elastic, the walking foot kept my fabric lined up on the right seam allowance, which I thought would be more difficult since I was working with such a large piece of fabric and basically sewing it into a big circle. (Okay, sewing it into a big rectangle with rounded edges. ) I was able to keep better control of the fabric, even when I was sewing at a fast speed!!

One thing I would remind you of when tackling this tutorial, is don't forget to check the thread on your bobbin before you get started!! There is not tons of sewing involved, but there is one very long line of stitching in this project, and it would be such a bummer to make it a little ways around and need to refill your thread. Since I have only taken on smaller projects up to this point, I was really aware of possibly running out. If you do, it's no big deal, but just a good thing to check before you get started.

This crib sheet was such an easy project! So easy, that baby is getting another custom sheet as well. I think the blue elephant set will do perfectly. But Cedar House Fabrics is completely stocked with 100% organic cotton material, so any of the choices will be just as soft and hopefully as sweet!

I love that I was able to get exactly what I was looking for in the bedding, not just my favorite that the store had to offer. Buying your own fabric and spending a little time at the sewing machine is a great way to make sure that your nursery is stocked with your dream crib sheet!!

I'll be linking to these parties this week, so come see what everyone else has been up to!

Happy Monday!!