DIY Crib Skirt

One of the unintended results from the curtain adventure was that I ended up with a fair bit of fabric left over.  Not knowing for sure how the process would go I bought more than I needed of the generic blue fabric just to be on the safe side.  I figured worst case scenario many mistakes were made but hopefully working curtains were created and best case scenario I would end up with leftover scraps I could make into a coordinating crib skirt.

A crib skirt was always one of the aspects of the nursery that I didn't have strong feelings on.  I looked up various ideas of how to make my own but figured it it came down to the wire it really wasn't a big deal and I certainly wasn't going to buy one.  Needless to say I was very pleased when I found this tutorial from View Along The Way (yes, the same blog where I found the curtain tutorial...perhaps you should check it out?...) which didn't use all that much fabric and would be easy to make in an afternoon.  Here is how that process went.

As the only possible placement for the crib in the nursery is in a corner I lucked out and only had to cut fabric for the two sides not against a wall.  Of course I made a stupid mistake while measuring which I solidly blame on baby brain.  For those of you looking to do this either for a crib or even your own bed be sure to actually measure to the bottom edge of the mattress and then it really wouldn't hurt to add an extra inch or two to that height. 

Once you've got your measurements it's a simple matter of cutting fabric to size and hemming all 4 sides.  That's it, that's all the sewing you have to do.  Now to attach it.

I laid the fabric across the bottom of the crib and cut a small slit above the hem every other slat or so.  I then slipped a segment of shoe string through and tied it around the slat.  That's it!

Here's an idea of how I attached the short side of the skirt.  I eventually ran out of shoe string segments I was willing to part with and moved on to ribbon.   

The finished product once more.  By using the same fabric and color scheme for the curtains and the crib the room feels balanced and not overwhelmed with too many different things going on.

Tips & Tricks:

• This would be a really easy project to alter so that there isn't any sewing involved if you used some stitch witchery for the hems or selected a fabric that doesn't fray all that much.
• Double check all of your measurements!  Draw out a diagram if you need to.  This is something that I typically do but figured this was simple enough to mistake would be made.  haha
• You could get all fancy and stitch buttonholes where your ribbon/string/shoe string will end up going through if you're concerned about it holding up or use a thinner material.  Thus far we've had no issue and no need to adjust the crib skirt at all although that may change once Fidget is old enough to play around with things.
• Instead of tying it around slats you could also opt for using thumbtacks which would be great if you have a particle board bottom.
• There's so many different ways you could customize it once you've got this bare bones structure.  You could add ruffles like I did on my tree skirt, or add some weight to the bottom with a thick hem, a monogram or ribbon placed at the bottom could be fun as well.  The possibilities are endless.

What is something that you've maybe always wanted to get around to doing?  Or something that you put off thinking it's unnecessary?

Thanks for reading and happy crafting!

***This post is linked up at Living Well, Spending Less***