DIY No-Sew Crib Rail Cover

Now that Max is pulling up to his feet every chance he gets and is still chewing on everything he can get in his mouth, this has happened to his crib.

Looks tasty, huh?

I'm not comfortable with Max eating paint for a snack, so obviously I needed to get something to cover these rails.  I looked for crib rail covers on Amazon, and a cover for just one long side cost $23!  A set of 2 short side covers also costs $23.  Max's crib is uniform all around, meaning that he doesn't have the decorative higher long rail (technically the "back" of the crib), so I'd need to buy two long rails and a set of short ones.  That's $70 to cover these bad boys.

I am my father's daughter, and I don't pay for things I can make myself.  So after I did the math, I said,

"Efff. That."

I did some Internet trolling and found out that I could make a no-sew fleece one (much like the no-sew fleece throws I used to make as gifts in high school and college) for a fraction of the cost!  So Max and I headed to Jo-Anns during their fleece fabric sale and picked up some supplies.  I decided to do a patterned fleece for the short rails and a cheaper solid fleece for the long sides.

If your kid is eating the finish off of his crib, then this tutorial is for you!  If not, I've heard that most kids do eventually, so it might be a good idea to whip a set of these up ASAP so you can be ahead of the game.

DIY No-Sew Crib Rail Cover

Here's what you'll need:

fleece

scissors

measuring tape

hands/fingers

Hands/fingers not pictured

1. Before you buy your fleece, measure your crib rails.  It's pretty inevitable that you're going to need to buy way more than you'll need because of the way fabric is sold.  I got a yard of fleece for the shorter rails and 2.5 yards of fleece for the longer rails.  I'd rather have too much than not enough.
2. Wash your fleece.  Wash and dry it on the delicate cycle to avoid pilling.  I didn't dry it on the delicate cycle and I'm upset that I didn't because it's already pilling.
3. Drape your fabric over the rail and either measure or eyeball the length you need to cut.  For a project like this, I love eyeballing.  It doesn't need to be perfect.  Make sure you leave enough hanging down on either side to allow for cutting the strips to tie.
   
4.  After cutting the appropriate length of fabric, take it off the crib rail and fold it in half, "hot dog style" (the same way it'll look when it's hanging on the rail).  Then make approximately 4-inch cuts up into the fabric (starting at the "open" end), about 1 inch apart.  Repeat for the entire length of the fabric.

   

   I didn't take a picture of this part, so here's one from another tutorial.

5. Drape the fabric back over the crib rail and get to tyin'!  The tutorial I saw recommended tying every other pair of strips and tucking the skipped ones up into the fleece, but I tied each one, meaning I tied 2 pairs of strips between each crib rung.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each crib rail.  Max's long rails have a different design than his short rails, so I didn't need as much fabric to wrap around the long ones as I did the short ones.

When you're all done, stand back and admire your handiwork!

This took me a bit over an hour to measure, cut, and tie all sides.  Max helped by reorganizing his closet and making a mess.

Life with babies is a gas, right?