How To Make Crib Bumper Pads?

Hey there mommies! Your baby needs some protection from hitting itself on the crib sides. Or maybe you are afraid; it will stick the tiny arms and legs through the slats. So you wanna know how to make crib bumper pads that will also fit in both the convertible baby crib.

But before I walk you through the DIY guide, let me address the concerns about crib bumpers. You already know that crib bumpers are not recommended anymore and, in fact, highly discouraged for infants or young babies who can’t roll well yet(infant mattress has no space for bumpers in the first place).

However, you feel the need for them when your baby turns close to 9 months age. This was the same case with me and so, I consulted with my pediatrician. And she was completely fine with the idea of crib bumpers at that point as my baby was quite mobile enough.

So when you have the signal go green, let’s learn how to make crib bumper pads on your own. I’ll break the whole process into steps to ease it out.

First thing comes first

The very first thing to do is, select your fabric. A pattern for the outside of each panel and a solid for the inside should feel good. You can use piping along to the top to add detail.

Although you can use piping on all sides, to save money and time, I recommend only doing across the tops only(since you don’t really see the other sides anyway).

Supplies you will need

You will requisite six yards of fabric total; three yards of print and three yards of solid. Also, you will need fifteen feet of cord or rope for the piping.

For the stuffing and foam panels for inserts, you can go the easy way buying pre-cut panels. The come fitting for most standard sized cribs and you’ll want to measure yours. Make sure that you don’t need to trim the link, and if you do, then just adjust the size of the panel fabric to match.

You’ll have one of these on each end of your crib and two across the front and the back.

To round the corners, you will need a corner template. By the way, I cut this from a square piece of paper.

Then you get the sewing basics; sewing threads, pins, scissors and most importantly your own sewing machine. Lastly, you’ll require a zipper foot attached to the machine(this might be the only thing you won’t have in your collection. Yet it is easy to use). You will use it on the pipping and it will allow you to sew right up- next to the edge of the cord and make a tight wrap with the fabric.

The Cut List

Here are the measurements for the cuts below.

• Panels: 6 pieces of each fabric | 11”x27” dimension.
• Ties: 24 strips of each fabric | 2”x12” for regular ties or 2”x18” for bows.
• Piping: 6 strips of accent color fabric | 2”x30” dimension

Sewing the Ties

These are very simple to sew. But honestly, they are a pain in the ass to turn inside out. So lay your front and back pieces of fabric together with the good side facing each other.

Pin it a few pieces and then sew all that one end. To make the hard corners, you’ll just have to stop your machine and lift the foot. Then you turn the fabric and start sewing again.

Sewing done! Snip the corners off without cutting your seam. It will help you to flip it inside out to have a sharper corner. So, turn them all inside out and iron flat as I this is the most time-consuming part.

The Piping

Now you will need to replace the regular foot with the zipper foot, for tight seams along the edge of the rope. Cut your rope into 30-inch pieces and wrap the 30-inch strip fabric around the quarter rope.

Pin it several places and sew it tight along the edge using the zipper foot. Great! You are ready to assemble your panels.

Lay a printed panel which is the fabric that you want showing on the outside of your crib with the good side up. Position for four ties on top, two on the left and two on the right with spaces in between.

The open edges of the ties should be on the outside of the panel so that they end up getting sewn in the seam. And the printed and the good side of the ties should face the good side of the panel fabric.

Pin the ties in place so that they don’t move while you are sewing around the outside of the panel. Lay a strip of piping along the top of the panel with its seam facing outward.

Cut slits in the piping where it wraps around the corners. So it should go around the curve.

Now lay your solid panel or the one you want facing inside of your crib on top with the good side facing down and finally, pin it all around the edges. The tricky part is pinning the two panels together with the piping in between. Since the piping won’t go all the way around, you need to allow the ends of the piping to drift out. The seam that you sew around the panel edge will cross over those ends of the piping.

Sew all the panels together

Use the zipper foot again to sew all the panels together. Start just above that top left tied and sew all along the top with first and then back around. Stop just before the bottom left eye leaving that left side open to flip it inside out.

When you hit the end of the piping, you might need to stop your machine, reposition and start over on the other side of the piping where the edge of the piping drips out through your ceiling.

After sewing the three sides, run a quick stitch to sew side ties to one of the panels but without actually sewing the panels together. This makes the closing up process easier if the ties are already attached to the panel.

Flip the panel inside out, be careful of the pins left in there with the ties and stuff the panel with the foam insert. Then you are gonna sew the final edge together either by hand or machine. However, I prefer sewing by hand using a hidden stitch.

Repeat

Tiring, right? I know. But you have to run the whole tiring process for five more times. When you are done, you’ve something made with love for your baby. Remember you can do the same process to make crib bumpers for the travel crib as well.

Final Words

Crib bumpers are controversial for your child’s safety. So before you go with the flow, check our article Are crib bumpers really safe? Walk safe, because of safety first.