DIY Crib Teether

Genevieve was a late teether (her first 2 teeth came through on her first birthday).  She immediately took to scraping these new found teeth on her crib.  I wanted to make a teether that matched her bedding since I had extra fabric left over.

Here's the finished product: 

Supplies Needed:
1-2 yards of decorative fabric
1 yard of quilted batting
Ribbon
Coordinating thread
Fray check (optional)

Equipment:
Iron
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Pinking Shears (optional)
Lighter (optional)

This is a pretty easy beginner sewing project.

I recommend washing and drying the fabric according to the manufacturer directions before sewing.  After washing and drying, make sure to iron your fabric.

The first step is to measure your crib to determine what sizes to cut your fabric.  You'll need to measure how long the teethers need to be as well as the width.  My length for the long piece was 51" and the short pieces were 27 1/2" long.  The width was 6."

Cut the fabric.  I cut the long piece at 53" by 8" and then the short pieces as 29 1/2" by 8."  Cut the same size for the quilted batting and the decorative fabric.  The quilted fabric was long "long" enough for the length of my long piece.  I just stitched two pieces together to make one piece that was long enough.  I didn't want to buy an extra yard of fabric just to have enough for a cohesive piece.  The batting isn't visible, so it didn't concern me.

Cut fabric

Next, I went to the crib and measured where I wanted the ribbons.  I guess you don't have to be too exact on this, but I wanted the ribbons to be lined up perfectly with the crib slats.  Cut ribbon into 10" strips.  For the long piece, I used 16 strips and the short pieces took 10 pieces, so 36 strips total.  

Once you have the measurements for the ribbon placement, place your fabric and quilted batting right side together.  Now comes the most "tricky" part of this project which really isn't too tricky once you start.  You'll need to place and pin the ribbon at the intervals that correspond to the crib slats you measured.  See the photo below for pinning instructions.  The ribbon will need to be placed on both sides so that you can tie the ribbons together over the crib.

Once you have the ribbon pinned where you want, it's time to sew!  Make sure the ribbon ends aren't hanging out of the opposite side.  You'll want them kind of smooshed in the middle.  Sew the fabric right side to right side, leaving about 2-3 inches unsewn so that you can turn the fabric right side out.  Use a straight stitch and 1/4"-1/2" seam allowance.

Now turn the fabric right side out.  It's time to topstitch.  I like to iron the spot that I didn't sew so that it is folded under.  This way it looks seamless.  Now you just need to sew all the way around to do the topstitching.  Just use a regular straight stitch.

You're almost done!  Now you just need to seal the end of the ribbon so it doesn't unravel.  You have a couple of options.  You can use pinking shears to trim the edges of the ribbon.  If you do this, I highly recommend using something like fray check to keep the ends clean.  You can also simply heat seal the ends with a lighter.  Just be careful not to start any fires!

That's it!  You now have an awesome custom crib teether that will protect your crib.