Martha Stewart came over today. { changing pad cover tutorial}

Have you ever wanted to make a changing pad cover for your baby's room? Yeah, me neither. I bought fabric to make the bed skirt the other day, and I realized the flannel fabric I got 2 yards of just wasn't going to work. The sheet and bumper are both pink, and I got the striped flannel ( that is on the quilt) to go on the top and bottom tier, and just wouldn't look right. 

This is the tutorial for the skirt I had been planning on doing:

http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2012/01/ruffled-crib-skirt-tutorial-nursery-bedding-reveal.html

So I looked up DIY tutorials last night, and found one for a changing pad cover, and knew I had enough to try it out. It was THE EASIEST thing I have ever sewn. I only made one. I might be weird , but I can't really handle when all the bedding and accessories don't  match. If my baby explodes on the changing cover, I usually wash it right away anyways. So I do have some spares from Landon ( that Lucy used too), but will primarily use this one that matches. BUT if you want to make one to match her room, feel free =) It won't take you long, and I'll gladly accept them. The one I saw at target that I like was $9.99. I got 2 yards of fabric on sale at Joanne's Sunday ( THAT PLACE IS PACKED ON SUNDAYS. I WAITED OVER 5 MINUTES TO GET FABRIC CUT, and there were 5 people cutting!) for $1.99/yard, and have plenty leftover for other crafts. So this changing pad cover matches her quilt perfectly , and cost under $4.00 to make.

I used the free tutorial from The Prudent Baby. If you want to try this out you can follow theirs, or try to follow along with my pictures. It suggests that it will fit a standard changing pad. I didn't measure mine before, but the measurements they give for standard are : 32″L X 16″W X 3-4″H
 They also give instructions to use 2 fabrics--very cute. But I only messed up and had 1 fabric that wasn't going to work with the other project.

1) You need to cut a 48"x32" piece.
2) fold the piece in half in length.

3)Then fold the width in half:

4)Draw an 8" square on the top corner. This corner has no folds on it.

5) Cut the square out.

6) Your piece should look like the photo below.

7) On each of the 4 cut corners, match them right sides facing & sew together. You're making 4 rounded sides. Each of those will look like this:

8) Now you are going to make a casing for the elastic. First, fold under the entire raw edge about 1/2 " and iron down. Next, fold all the way around about 1" and pin & iron in place. You will then stitch all the way around the 1" casing you just made. Keep your seam on the inside, starting at a corner seam, and leaving a small gap that you will be able to pull the elastic through.

My beginning and end of the casing being sewn. with a gap to feed elastic.

9) Feed your elastic ( 36" of it was what the tutorial called for. This is WAY too tight for my changing pad. Hopefully it will fit better when we replace it with a newer one.) I think I used 1/2" elastic? Pin one side of the elastic to the fabric so it doesn't slip in through the casing. Use a safety pin on the end of the elastic you will be feeding through the casing. This makes the elastic feeding VERY QUICK! Pull that safety pin and elastic all the way through the casing until you get back to the opening.

My elastic is all the way through my casing!

10) Sew your 2 ends of elastic together. I 've read the best way is to make a box with an x inside to keep that elastic good and secure. Once your elastic is in 1 piece, let it slip into the casing, and finish stitching up that little gap you left open.

ALL DONE!

It's fitting a little oddly, but hopefully it will fit better on a newer changing pad.

You can tell the bottom 'foam stuff' is starting to completely come off, and this baby needs a different changing pad. You can also see how TIGHT the elastic is at 36" long. It still works!

I also made some letters to go onto her wall.

 The last 3 letters were just spray painted the same color that the pulls on her dresser are painted. All letters were bought at Hobby Lobby. The larger E I decided to cover with the chevron. I looked up a ton of different sites to see the best way to cover it. Of course we can't find the Mod Podge ANYWHERE in the new rental or in any box it should be in. So I just used hot glue.

I cut out an E slightly larger than the actual E. I then just pulled tightly, tucked, and hot glued all around the edges to the back of the E.

Tomorrow will be 35 weeks!!!!! More projects to get finished this week! More pictures to come!