I never realized how easy it was to make my own crib sheets then I tried. I swore to my husband that day we would never buy sheets for the crib or toddler bed again! So super simple and honestly it took a lot shorter than I originally thought so that was a huge plus too! All you need is a sewing machine some elastic and 2 yards of fabric. The example I’ll be making shows you an average size crib mattress, which can also be used for a toddler bed.
Your first step is to get your materials together if you are shopping for fabric don’t forget your thread! Wash dry and iron your fabric to preshrink it. You want to make sure you really do this step it would be shame for you to make this then wash it and have it not fit due to heavy shrinkage or what have you.
After you iron your fabric lay it flat on your work surface and fold your fabric in half lengthwise. You want to then measure 70″ and cut your fabric. Most fabrics actually come in the exact width you will need so this is nice and convenient.
Your next step is to cut out a 9″x9″ template and trace that onto the corners or carefully measure and create this square without the template and cut those off. Your material should then look like this.
Match your corners and pin them together. I zigzag the edges to prevent fraying then straight stitch next to that. Repeat this step to all your corners. This will create your depth. Don’t forget to remove your pins after you sew!
After your corners are all stitched together and the pins are removed for a clean look you can stitch a small amount all the way around your fabric edge. On this one I did for you to see on some of the others I’ve made I left this step out. It doesn’t add anything function wise but if you are making sheets as a gift it looks cleaner.
Fold your edge, whether finished or unfinished over and start to pin that together leaving yourself anywhere between 1/2″ and a full inch. This will be the space you feed your elastic through. After pinning the edge go ahead and stitch that together remembering to leave a small space to get your elastic through. I usually pin a safety pin to the end of mine to make it easier to thread through.
Go ahead and feed your elastic through that space and as far as how tight or loose you want the sheet to be this will determine how much elastic to use. Make sure you start with too long a piece so you are able to cut it down. Remember you can’t go back after you cut it! At this point after you’ve fed your elastic through and you have the tightness the way you want it you can go ahead and stitch the ends of the elastic together making sure to go over it a few times you don’t want this not to stay. Then go ahead and sew the hole you left open in your fabric and there you have it!!
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