Not to get all "baby stuff" on you, but.....

Well, since I have a bun in the oven, everything around our house has sorta of gone baby on us...I mean, there is an actual crib in our house- WHAO! So exciting! So of course I had to get all hyped up about making the baby's bedding.....at first I thought, "ugh, this is going to be much too much of a hassle, I should just buy something." Well so then I started looking around on websites, and instantly became obsessed with Serena & Lily - their 3 piece crib bedding sets are adorable! Great fabrics, so cute, etc., etc. Well, the not so cute thing about them is the price- like seriously, $580 for crib bedding? You've got to be kidding me! So that wasn't gonna happen.....and since I have this lovely fabric store here in Nashville, Textile, which carries THE CUTEST fabrics, I knew that if I could figure out how to make the stuff, I'd have something just as adorable as Serena & Lily for at least 1/2 the price. TA DAAAA! This stuff was way easier to make than I anticipated- don't get me wrong, it's a big project, and you have to be ready to spend some time on it, but I am so happy that I went for it, and I know all of you over-zealous, (and especially first-time), expectant gals out there can do it too! I'm not going to get in the nitty-gritty step-by-step on this stuff, but I want to generally share how I made all of this.....so take a look at the pics below....

You'll need 8 pieces of fabric to make the body of your bumpers- 2 pieces for each bumper. You'll also need any piping and other trim that you want to use to embellish the style of the bumpers. Finally, you'll need something that will serve as the ties that will attach to the crib itself. Here I made my own ties to match the fabric I bought, but you can also use any ribbon you like. For each bumper, I put one tie on each of the four corners, and then 2 set of ties on the top and bottom of the long bumper as well. This way you'll use the corner ties from adjacent bumpers to tie onto the crib posts.

Once you have all of your pieces ready to go, you need to assemble the bumpers from the inside out. So lay one of your pieces of fabric down, right-side-up, then start to place all of the other pieces where they need to go. Any piping or trim you're using will lay with the rough edges lined up with the top of the pieces of main fabric. Same goes for the tie pieces- they will all be placed so that the ends of the ties that will go around the crib bars will be in the middle of the body piece of fabric and the rough ends will be placed right on the edges of all four corners (and in the case of your long bumpers that run the longest length of the crib, you'll need a set of 2 ties on top and bottom to tie around the middle bars of the crib). Once you have all of the pieces situated like so, lay the other piece of body fabric right-side-down on top of everything else, then pin together. Then you're ready to sew it up. Sew all around all four sides, leaving only about a 6-8 inch opening on the bottom edge of each bumper so that you can stuff them. Once you have it sewn up leaving the stuffing hole, turn the bumpers right-side-out. Then stuff!

Finally, sew up the 6-8 inch stuffing hole by folding the edges inward and pinning in place. Tip- if you've chosen to use any piping or trim, use a zipper foot to sew around those sides, which makes the machine work easier. Good luck!

Stitch-What-ery?

Stitch-Witchery! Man, gotta love this stuff.....ok, so even though we only finished decorating one of our bathrooms about a year ago, we're already saying to ourselves, "what on earth were we thinking with those colors?" So, it's time for a change- and what better way to make a dramatic change to a bathroom than with a new window treatment? I mean, with the invention of stitch-witchery, it couldn't be easier- no sewing machine needed.....all you have to do is find a piece of fabric you like (light weight fabrics will work best with the stitch-witchery), cut it to about 1 and a half times the width of your window, and to whatever length you wish (full window-length, or you can do a cafe curtain as we did here- this saves time and money, and lets the light in!)- leave about an inch extra on all sides for the hem, add lining if you want to (cheap muslin fabric works great!), and grab the iron! If you're hanging a window treatment for the first time in this particular room, you'll also need the curtain rod, rings, and drapery hooks. I know this sounds like a lot, but if you initially pick a versatile curtain rod, such as the black one here, you can change up the fabric every year at very little expense- this is so fun because you get to recreate the look of a room, and you can do it often, and inexpensively! Here's what you do:

• Cut the fabric (and lining if you're using) to the desired size
• Lay the fabric upside down on a counter or floor
• If you're using lining, lay the lining directly on top of the upside down fabric
• Place a strip of stitch-witchery along the edge between the fabric and lining

• Press on top of the lining with the iron on its highest temperature- press hard for a for a good amount of time (about 10 seconds) in each spot to make sure the bond takes hold
• Repeat on all four edges
• Then you'll place a strip of stitch-witchery along the edge on top of the lining, about an inch inside the edge; and fold the side up so that the stitch-witchery is covered, and press with the iron


• Repeat with the opposite edge
• Then to finish the final two sides, lay a strip of stitch-witchery along the edge, just like in the last step
• Before pressing, start with one corner by folding it in at at 45 degree angle so as to create a finished edge; press this corner
• Then move to the other corner and make the 45 degree-angle fold, and press- continue pressing the entire length of that edge between the two corners
• Repeat with the final edge

Ta-Da!!- new window treatment, sans sewing machine, and in about 20 minutes! It's important to know that stitch-witchery obviously isn't going to hold as well as if the hems were sewn, but it is super fast, super easy, and if you're like me, and sick of decorations really, fast, this will do just fine until you move on to your next window treatment!