Bedding

When Jason and I were narrowing down a nursery theme, we fell in love with robots because of this bedding:

Super cute, right?  We saw it online at several different stores, but wanted to see it in person before purchasing it.  We went to Babies R Us, but it wasn't there.  So we went to Buy Buy Baby... but it wasn't there.  Well, we knew we loved it, so maybe we'd just order it online... and pay $20 shipping!  What?!?

As we were walking around the baby stores, we noticed a trend in the bedding section -- hanging the blanket over the crib.  We also saw signs that basically said "Make sure you don't put blankets in the crib with the baby."  Um, so what do we do with the blanket?  I called an expert, my friend Kristen, and asked her.  Her answers?  "Well, some people hang it on the wall as artwork, or some people drape it on the rocker, but no, you can't put it in the crib."

Hold the phone.  We're going to buy a 4-piece bedding set for $200 (yes, you read that correctly, $200, significantly more than our queen-sized bed set) and not be able to use two of the four pieces (the blanket and the quilt)?  So we'd be paying $200 for a sheet and bed skirt (neither of which actually had robots on them), and two "art pieces."

I made an executive decision.  I went to JoAnn's Fabrics in search of robot fabric.  I'm no master seamstress (I can sort of hem pants and sew buttons back on), but I can make felt tie-blankets.

Step 1: Buy felt fabric.  You need two pieces of fabric.  I usually buy two different fabrics (a print and a solid) to add some fun to it.  For baby blankets, they suggest 1.5 yards each.  Lie one piece on the other and trim so they line up.

Step 2: Cut strips.  I use the width of a ruler as a guide, and I cut strips 3-4" strips.  They ended up a little long (I trimmed them afterwards), so you may want to go a little shorter than that.  At the corners, cut out squares where the two sides of strips intersect.

Step 3: Begin tying strips together, attaching the top layer to the bottom.  Use a simple "left over right, right over left" knot.  Make each knot the same to keep everything looking uniform.

Aaaaaand, done!

Is it as adorable as the original bedding?  No, and I'm not going to pretend it is.  However, it was made specially for our little boy, and I saved a ton of money at the same time.  I consider that a success!