Stylish Baby Nursery: Crib Bumpers in Two Cool Fabs
Padded bumper pads for your crib are a nursery must have. Not only are they beautifully decorative, they keep your little darlin' from bonking her pretty little head. We chose a strong, graphic pattern for the inside of the bumpers, because the baby experts say that's what babies love to look at.
These instructions generally follow the instructions that come with the Fairfield Baby Bumper pads recommended below. For more information and where to buy visit poly-fil.com.
Our sample was made for a baby girl's nursery, using the stunning Patty Young Andalucia collection. For information on where to buy, read Stylish Baby Nursery: Designing Bold Colors & Patterns. This article also includes suggestions for creating an alternate fabric palette that would work well for a boy's nursery.
Sewing Tools You Need
- Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome Magnolia 7318)
Fabric and Other Supplies
- Fairfield NU Foam® Baby Bumper Pads - package of six measuring 10" x 26" x 1"
- Fabric for inside of six crib bumpers: 2 yards of 45” wide fabric: we used Patty Young's Andalucia in Petal Jester.
- Fabric for outside of six crib bumpers: 2 yards of 45" wide fabric: we used Patty Young's Andalucia in Petal Flora
- Fabric for piping around bumpers AND corner ties: 1½ yards of 45” wide fabric: we used Patty Young's Andalucia in Fire Tiny Dots
- 6 yards 3/8" diameter cotton cording
- All-purpose thread in colors to match fabrics
- Iron and Ironing board
- See through ruler
- Fabric marking pen or chalk pencil
- Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
- Straight pins
- Iron and ironing board
- Corner template (see download below)
- 5" square piece of cardboard or template plastic for template (check your local craft store for stencil material)
Getting Started
Cut your fabric and trims
- Download the corner curve template and trace it onto a piece of cardboard or template plastic. Cut out.
- Cut six 27" x 11¾" pieces of fabric from both the Petal Jester and the Petal Flora (six pieces from each fabric). (Note: To make this amount of fabric sufficient, cut 11¾" pieces along the 45" edge of the fabric.)
- Using the template you made, mark a rounded edge on each corner of each 27" x 11¾" piece of fabric. Cut the rounded corners. Using the original template pattern (the paper), transfer the markings (the dots) onto your fabric using the fabric marking pen. I like to make a tiny hole with a pin right in the middle of the dot, then I line up my pattern on my fabric and make a mark with my pen through that hole.
- For the ties, cut twenty-four 15½" x 2½" pieces from Fire Tiny Dots.
- Cut six 30" lengths from cording.
- Cut six 2¼" wide bias strips according to the instructions below. Each will need to be about 30" long.
Cut your bias strips
- On your cutting surface, lay your fabric out flat, right side up, with the selvage running along one side.
- The selvage is the woven edge of your fabric where it was originally attached to the loom. The fabric's pattern does not continue onto the selvage, but there is likely to be some information printed there that identifies the manufacturer or designer.
- Fold the fabric back diagonally so a straight edge is parallel to the selvage.
- Press the fold and use this crease as a guide to mark your parallel lines.
- Use a straight edge to make continuous parallel likes 2¼" apart.
- Cut along these lines with good, sharp scissors or a rotary cutter and straight edge.
At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board
Join bias strips
- You may need to join two strips to make one that is the necessary 30" long. To do this, take two of your strips and place them right sides together at right angels to each other.
- Stitch straight across.
- Lay flat, press the seam open and trim off the overlapping edges.
- Repeat until you have one long fabric strip.
Insert the cord
- Place one 30" bias strip right side down on a large flat surface.
- Lay a 30" length of cord in the center.
- Fold the fabric over the cord, keeping the cord centered and matching the raw edges of the fabric.
- Pin to hold in place.
- Carefully move to your sewing machine and adjust the piping so the raw edges line up on your seam allowance marking and cord pokes out to the left of your foot.
- Using the Zipper Foot, stitch slowly staying close to the cord and keeping your seam allowance consistent. Remember to remove your pins as you go so you don't sew over them.
Stitch cording to bumper fabric
- Pin cording to the right side of a 27" x 11¾" piece of Petal Flora fabric. Using the dots you made with the template, start pinning the cording at the large dot in the center of left curved edge, stretching along the 27" straight side, and ending in the center of the curved edge at the large dot on the right side. Be sure to match the raw edges of the piping insertion fabric and the base fabric. Your cording should be centered between the dots.
- Stitch in place using the zipper foot. You are stitching around a curve so you'll need to gently ease the fabric, which means it might ripple slightly. That's okay.
- Repeat to add cording in this same manner to all six 27" x 11¾" Petal Flora pieces.
Make the ties
- With right sides together, fold a 15½" x 2½" Fire Tiny Dots fabric strip in half lengthwise.
- Stitch ¼" in from the edge along the long edge and across one end. Stop with your needle down at the corner, lift your presser foot, and pivot 90˚ to make a nice clean angle.
- Trim the corners, being careful not to clip into your seam.
- Press the long seam open.
- Turn the strip right side out. You've made a fairly narrow little tube, so you'll need a little help turning it. My favorite way is to use a large safety pin. Attach the safety pin to the seamed end and make sure the pin is securely closed. Then, pushing the pin backwards, wiggle it in on itself. It will take just a second to get this going, then you can keep wiggling the pin backwards until it comes out the other end. It's just like a snake shedding its skin, but not as creepy. Finally, slip a small knitting needle or other slim, dull pointy object up inside the tube and poke out the corners so they are nice and sharp. Janome machines come with a cool little lint brush, the other end of which is perfect for this task.
- Press the tie so the seam runs nice and straight along one long edge. We can leave other short edge unsewn, because this will not be seen – it will be sewn into the bumper.
- Repeat to finish all twenty-four ties in the same manner.
Finish the bumpers
- Pin a tie to the side of a Petal Flora piece, with the right side of the fabric facing up. Use the template to determine where to put them - you will pin them just below the small dot on the upper corners and just above the small dot on the lower corners. Pin them so the unfinished edge is matched along the edge of the Petal Flora Fabric.
- Stitch the ties in place.
- Repeat on all six pieces of Petal Flora.
- With right sides together, and ties and cording on the inside, pin a Petal Jester piece to a Petal Flora piece. It's very important that you make sure your ties are all facing in and free of the seams.
- Stitch along THREE sides using the zipper foot. On the top edge, stitch slowly and as close to the cording as possible. On the edges without cording stitch using a standard ½" seam. You may change to a regular foot if you are more comfortable sewing with this on these edges. Leave one short edge open for turning and inserting the bumper pads.
- Turn the cover right side out so the cording and ties pop out... ta-da!
- Insert bumper pads into the cover.
NOTE: It will help give you a nice snug fit if you use the corner template to round the corners of the foam just as you did with the fabric panels. - Turn under the seam allowance so your seam edges are flush to one another, and slip stitch the opening closed.
Hints and Tips
You may find it easier to insert the bumper pads if you place them in a plastic bag before doing so. This will allow them to slip more easily into the covers. Be sure to do this so that the bag can be removed after the pads are in the covers.
Contributors
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Aimee McGaffey
Instructional Editing: Alison Newman
Other machines suitable for this project include the Pfaff Select 4.0 and the Bernina Bernette 92c.
Results From Our Readers
Submitted by Rachel in Idaho 
Submitted by Veronica in Hayden, AL 
Whoops! Sorry for some funky autocorrect!
I'm a Grandma preparing my shopping list for supplies to sew these bumpers for my daughter in law. I mentioned that I made them for my babies years ago. She wants me to make them, and has told my son whom is serving in Afghanistan that as well. Pressure! I do confess, the fabric choices now are amazing! A far cry from the chambrey blue calico of the 80's. I will post the requested Zebra print pads upon completion! Wish me luck
I have one question: How does the front part of the crib go up and down with two of the bumpers meeting and tying at the middle of the slats. When my girls were babies (over 20 years ago), bumper pads were straight across.
I wrote the question as best as I could but it might still be confusing. Sorry.
The side rails of the crib, no longer go up and down. Regulations now require that the side remain fixed in place so the babies do not get their head stuck, if the side were to slide down unexpectedly.
@ S. Smith - the other commentor is correct, the cribs with the moveable sides aren't readily available. In addition, bumpers are traditionally used with the mattress in the highest position - when it is the easiest to simply lift the baby out of the crib. Most of the time it is recommended that bumpers be removed when the babies become more mobile (and larger, therefore, requiring the mattress be moved lower) so they are not used for climbing or pulling.
Thanks everyone. I feel so old. I didn't even know that the crib sides no longer went up and down LOL. That solves my problem with worrying about that. If the concern is that babies can get stuck, then these types of bumpers would be better than the ones I used with my daughters because they are not one solid piece going all the way across. I got the pads in the mail today. These are very sturdy. I think everything will be fine with the baby until she is old enough to begin chewing, which is when I took my daughters' pads out.
In June 2011 drop side cribs were declared unsafe. (all my children survived!). I believe the additional sections allow for ties to keep the pads from collapsing on the baby.
Ok this may sound dumb but I am assmbling the bumper sections and ties now and if I'm reading this right each section is seperate and only attached by the ties is that correct? I made a bumper before and simply attaced each section so that all 6 sections were attached but there were also the ties to attach to the crib would I be reading the instructions wrong or in this tutorial would the ties be the only thing attaching the sections?
Yes, each section is separate and the ties are used both to tie the sections together and tie them to the crib.
I have a question regarding the amount of fabric needed if we choose a pattern that has a design theme that runs horizontally meaning it would fit perfectly in the bumper sections and run perpendicular to the crib slats - just like the bumpers. Your directions are very clear and easy to understand but this reference "cut 11¾" pieces along the 45" edge of the fabric" - has me questioning how much fabric to purchase. Does this mean that when the fabric is layed out to be cut that the six sections for the inside and outside pieces would be cut perpendicular to the selvage or parallel to the selvage? We are purchasing fabric online so I cannot physically see it to ensure that we will have enough.
Thanks!
@ NancyCM -- cutting the panels parallel to the selvedge gives you the most flexibility, however, you can also cut the perpendicular to the selvedge to accomodate a directional print, but you have less than 2" of leeway - you'd have to cut one right on top of the other and be super exact. If that is what you feel you'll need to do for your print, you should probably try to get 1/8 to 1/4 yard extra.
Someone may have already asked this, but I didn't see it. Once you turn the ties right side out, how do you get the safety pin out??? I can't get to mine. :( Did I do it wrong?
I had trouble with the safety pin too, so I ended up turning mine right-side-out using the handle of a long thin wooden spoon...... I just pushed the tie onto the handle and pulled it right side out. It maybe took 10 seconds per tie, and then I used a knitting needle to make the corners nice. Much easier for me than the safety pin!
@ Emily Morris -- Hmmmm.. I kind of open it through the fabric and shake it out. You can also use a chopstick or large knitting needle to push backwards. Or ... if you have a pair of hemostats in the medicine cabinet - take a look at this nifty turning trick:
http://sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/quick-tip-tiny-tub...
Does the batting inside the bumper pads turn when washing them since there is no stitch to hold them in place?
@ Megan Shears - the bumpers are designed so the pads are a very snug fit inside - so there really shouldn't be any twisting in the laundry. As with all pillow type products, you wouldn't want to wash them on ultra-high spin cycle.
I am probably just over thinking this too much, but I have cut and now sewn the piping. I am pinning it to the other fabric and it is much longer than where the directions say it should be. The directions say it should lie between the two large dots and itgoes wellthat that. Does it matter if it does go past? Should I trim them to fit between the dots?
@ Megan Shears - the side of the fabric should be 27" and your length of cording should be 30" - so it may extend a little bit past the dots, but it shouldn't be a lot. 30" is just enough to go along the top with about 1-1/2" to round the corner on each side. Make sure your sizes are right. And, yes, you can trim your cording if need be.
http://sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/662-quick-tip-tiny...
Also, my fabric is a solid color, so I'm having a hard time deciphering the selvage edge (there's nothing printed on any of the edges). I assume it's one of the 45" sides?
You can order the pads online if getting to a store in an issue. Even Amazon carries them: http://www.amazon.com/Poly-Fil...B003GGWEL8
We also just posted a new nursery, which features a similar set of bumpers with all around jumbo piping. Cute, cute, cute:
http://sew4home.com/projects/bed-linens/905-citron-a-gray-nursery-5
Have fun!
Veronica I adore the use of the corduroy. I'll have to plan on that for the next grandchild
I'm getting stumped at the part circled in red. i put a line where the fabric would line up, but the curve goes out past that. i figured i could just make the curve how i think it's supposed to be, but i wanted to make sure there wasn't a specific reason as to why the template was like that.
I've read through all the comments and see many people that have completed these, so i feel kinda dumb for asking, but can anyone help me with it? Thanks.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/inches-mm-conversion-d_751.html
As you'll see, our suggested 3/8" = 0.3750 as a decimal = 9.5250 mm, which means 2mm would be too small
Hope that helps
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