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Crib Rail Teether: Completed

DIY Crib Teething Rail Cover Tutorial

May 3, 2010 Sarah Coggins

Last year, my mom gave us a gorgeous crib for our son. It converts into a toddler bed and later a full size bed. Recently, it has been obvious that we might soon end up with a lot of teeth marks in the foot board as he has discovered it is perfect for teething:

Teething on the Crib Rail
Wanting to protect it, I started searching online for quilted teething crib rail covers. I found only two options and quickly realized they would not work for our crib due to it’s wide vertical rail. Both covers have a tie in the center.

This was also a problem with the bumper that came with our bedding set. It too had center ties that were not long enough to reach around the vertical center rails on the front and back:

Crib: May 2009
That ended up being okay since we chose to purchase a Breathable Bumper to use instead. Thus the original bumper ended up in the top of our son’s closet where it sat until I began thinking of ways to make my own teething rail cover.

Teether Bumper
Last week, I pulled the bumper out and began using my seam ripper to carefully pull apart a third of it. The reason behind tearing apart a third versus the entire bumper is because it contained enough fabric to make the teether and leaves the remaining four panels intact for use as a bumper if we choose when we convert the crib to a toddler bed later.

baby gear toys surprises at mbeans.com

Creating the Teething Rail Cover

I ripped carefully to leave as much of the fabric and piping as intact as possible. I might have been able to do less “deconstruction” of it had the original batting not been so thick. It wouldn’t form around the rail as I liked so I had to tear out a good bit of the seams to remove the batting.

Teether Seam Rip
After I removed the batting. I shifted some of the ties – leaving two on each end corner, and two offset 4 inches each side of the center of the cover. This way it would tie down just beyond the center rail. Then I added new batting and sewed it to both long sides as well as one end:

Crib Rail Teether: Sew
Next I flipped the cover right side out. Straightened it out. Sewed the open end closed. Then measured and marked lines for quilting:

Crib Rail Teether: Quilting
I carefully sewed 5 individual straight lines spaced at approximately 9 inch intervals on the teether. This fully attached the fabric and batting.

Finally, I tied it onto the crib rail (taking care to position it so the animals face inward) and let my son check it out. I think I have his approval. Moments later he even “tasted” it.

Completed Crib Teething Rail Cover
And I finished this project just in the nick of time as his first tooth began poking through on Friday night.

Post linked to: Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog and We Did It! Wednesday at Sew Much Ado.

10 Comments

  • ter@waaoms May 3, 2010 at 12:25 pm
    I love the crib. It looks like a great investment in that it will convert and look nice and not "childish" so he can grow into it.

    great idea for the teething pad! I want to get a sewing machine and learn to sew.
  • jillconyers May 4, 2010 at 4:05 am
    What a great idea. Sometimes I regret never wanting to learn how to sew.
  • Jen Sue Wild May 4, 2010 at 10:02 am
    very cleaver sarah! 2 thumbs up!!
  • Laura May 4, 2010 at 10:36 am
    You are so creative! I love his bedding. :)
  • Little Foots May 5, 2010 at 4:29 pm
    What a great idea! I wish I would have seen this about 6 months ago! My daughter's crib is also convertible and the foot board is all bitten up! You did a great job!
  • Cheri May 9, 2010 at 10:38 pm
    Ingenious! Beautiful crib too:)
  • Shelley Dawn May 11, 2010 at 7:45 am
    That is a great idea! We bought one of those gummy teethers but it didn't adhere very well and my daughter's crib has teeth marks on it. Just wait until your bambino starts chewy on the ends of the crib. Those crazy kids! Thanks for sharing.
  • Linda May 17, 2010 at 10:30 am
    I love this idea and wish I was that clever back when Amanda was a baby. The rails had the plastic cover on them but she did chew through the foot board of the crib. Those were the days. :)
  • Chicky March 4, 2012 at 8:12 am
    Great idea! I ran across this while looking for DIY rail cover ideas and I have to ask... do you know what that fabric is from your bumper? Or who made it? I have a pillow in that fabric and haven't been able to find the pattern anywhere! Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you & lovely work!
    • Sarah C. March 4, 2012 at 9:54 am
      Thanks! The bedding set is by Dwell Studio for Target. It's no longer available that I know of, but I have seen fabric with the same animal print (different colors) at JoAnn Fabrics in the decorator section.

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    Hi! I'm a DIY and craft obsessed mom to 2. I have my hands covered in sawdust or paint any given day. My husband and kids join me in many of our projects. When we aren't creating at home, we're creating memories in our many adventures. Join along! Read More

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