Stripes & Frogs oh my!

So I told you all I was working on a fun little sewing project this week, one that I had planned on finishing ohhh........ about six months ago.
  My sister had asked me to make my nephew's baby bedding for his room and all I ever got around to finishing was this baby blanket and this smaller version. 

Well, the little fellow is now around the six month old mark and I thought it was about time to actual finish everything else!  Don't judge me to harsh!  I know I should have finished it sooner, but the little fella has another set and is just now starting to sleep in his own room anyway.

I also couldn't get enough of him on my time off!   So do you blame me for not getting around to getting everything done!?

Anyway the first piece of baby bedding I completed the other day was the crib skirt.
Here's what I did....
Washed and ironed all fabric, it'll make it much easier to sew when it's pressed really well!
With an inexpensive piece of muslin or any cheap fabric that you have on hand, measure and cut to 28"x51", this will become the deck on the skirt.  You know the part where the mattress rests!
Now the skirt I made was flat with just one pleat in the center of both long sides, but you can add more length for a ruffly one if you want!
I cut two pieces of fabric 51"x 13" these will be each long side,  and two shorter pieces 28"x13".
The longer pieces I then cut in half and inserted a scrap of fabric I had that measured, 10"x 13".  This became my pleat.   Before I did that however I took all my pieces and did a quick zigzag stitch along all the edges, I did this first so I wouldn't have to wrestle with a bunch on fabric at the end  to finish off all the edges!  It's so much easier to do this first!!
Unless you have a serger....... and in that case I am extremely jealous!
The wardrobe department for theater in college had one, that was the only time I have actually used one.  That was such a dream to use, and is on my long term wish list!!

Press open all seams they lay much smoother!

After sewing the panel in the middle of each longer side I then ironed all my hems, I eyeballed it and didn't measure but they were all about a 1/4th of an inch.

Isn't this fabric fun!

Opps....the only little problem I ran into was breaking this little needle in two!!

That was an easy enough fix though, I just popped in a new one and got going!

Basically after measuring, cutting, and ironing the hems on all the fabric, all you have to do is sew all hems down, I don't pin them after ironing them.  Typically they all stay  put while I'm sewing, although if you have a finicky machine and it tends to pull on the fabric, you may want to pin all the hems down before sewing!
The old machine I used to sew on was like that!
But my new toy sews so beautifully!
I bought this one at the beginning of the year, and I LOVE it!!



Seriously it's SOOOO easy to sew with!!


Anywhooo,  back to the little sewing project.....Once all hems are sewed just pin and sew all fabric to the deck!  It's as easy as that!
Really the most time consuming part of this project was ironing all the hems!
Maybe I need a new iron......
huh something to think about I guess!
Since I don't have a crib to put this on to show you all, you will have to be satisfied with this little glimpse of the finished product!

I've dropped this and a few other things off at my sisters, so I will have pictures of everything out and about soon!  Well, it may be a week or so as she is going out of town, but soon after that!

So what do you think?! Pretty cute fabric for a little boys room right!?!  Have you all been sewing anything up lately?  Or is sewing not your thing?  Maybe you just haven't broken down and purchased a machine yet, if you haven't I soooo recommend the Brother Machine I mentioned earlier!  P.s. I'm not getting paid  or anything to promote this machine, just love it!
So let me know what you think!

Link Party
Serenity Now
Craft-o-Maniac
TCB
Savvy Southern Style