Welcome to a stupidly easy tutorial for how to make a crib skirt. When I’m finished telling you how to make your own inexpensive crib skirt, feel free to slap me in the face for its simplicity, but then kiss me because it actually does kind of solve a global problem with mass-marketed crib skirts.
We’re going to have a complicated relationship, you and I.
But here’s why this is fantastic: if you’ve bought a crib skirt before, you know they look nice while the crib mattress is at its highest setting, when your tiny spawn is at their smallest. But as they get older and you lower the mattress, the crib skirt gets too long and bunched up on the floor and messy and embarrassing and you start to hate your life. Exhibit A: Weston’s crib:
If only there was a better way!
Friends, meet the adjustable crib skirt. Here’s how you make it. Step one: Cut and hem three rectangles, then pin or clip them to your crib. The end.
That’s the short version. Here’s the longer version.
- Measure your crib
You need three measurements. Length of the longest side, lengths of the two shortest sides, and height when the mattress is at its highest setting.
Your measurements will probably be pretty close to mine, but may not be exactly the same:
- Cut your fabric.
I used a little less than 2 yards of 54″ home decor fabric for this project. If your fabric isn’t wide enough for the longest side, you’ll need to piece it together. (But if you’re smart lazy like me, you’ll just make sure it’s wide enough.)
Add about two inches to the height measurement so you have room for the crib skirt to wrap up over the top of the mattress support, and add an inch to all the measurements for a seam allowance. Cut three rectangles of crib skirt’s fabric:
One large panel of crib skirt’s fabric for the front: length of the long side (plus seam allowance) by height (plus 2 inches, plus seam allowance). For me, this was 52.5 inches by 22 inches.
Two smaller panels of crib skirt’s fabric for the sides: length of the short side (plus seam allowance) by height (plus 2 inches, plus seam allowance). For me, this was 28.5 inches by 22 inches.
Optional Step 3. Realize you need help.
And your major problem with sewing is that you can’t cut crib skirt’s fabric into a straight line. (This step may have been particular to ME only. I hope you can skip it.) Recruit husband, who employs a straight-edge used in woodworking and construction to try to cut the crib skirt’s fabric straight. Seriously you guys – what is the secret to this?!
- Hem all four sides of each rectangle.
Turn up 1/2 inch on each side, iron and pin, then sew. I bet I’m supposed to be using more technical terms or using bigger, more specific words here, but I’m embarrassingly bad at this. I beg your forgiveness. This is what each rectangle should look like, but multiplied in awesomeness by your massively better sewing skills than mine:
- Attach each panel separately to the sides of your crib.
Eyeball the right height – I like the crib skirt to just barely skim the floor – and attach them to your crib. My crib has a flat, fiberboard bottom, so I used flat-topped thumbtacks to pin them in place.
If your crib mattress sits on a spring bottom instead, like this –
the pins won’t work and you’ll have to attach the panels a different way. One option is to sew on fabric strips which can be tied to the springs. Another option – what I’d probably do in my laziness – is to use a paper clip clamp
No one will see it and I won’t judge you.
- Adjust height over time.
As your little one gets older, less slobbery and with grosser diapers, you’ll drop the crib mattress height and simply move the panels closer to the center of the crib mattress support. Clip or pin the edge of the panels closer to the center of the crib mattress, and it’ll always sit right where it skims the floor, never getting bunched up and terrible at the bottom. Magic, right
And that’s the end. If you’ve been reading here for any amount of time, you know that if I can do a sewing project, YOU can handle it with your eyes closed in ten minutes while composing a symphony or something, and probably without the use of a husband or straight-edge.
Don’t forget to pin this so you have the details when you need ’em!