The Rail Guard tutorial

I didn't totally believe the white flakes on Brinley's mouth the first time I saw them.

Well, after a week of seeing those same flakes every time she got up from a nap, I knew it was time to do something about it. I checked on-line and there were tie rail guards and I thought,

"I can do that." They were $15-$20 on-line. If anything, I had enough scraps at home to make it.

While my mom was in Rexburg after Brinley was born, she bought a huge thing of adorable pink polar fleece to hang on her window to help keep the cold out of her room. WELL since I haven't seen temps here in Florida go below 30, I thought...ummm...maybe that fabric can be my rail guards!

So, this is a SIMPLE way of doing it.

Polar fleece doesn't fray, so I didn't sew around the edges. If she wants to chew on the fabric, be my guest. I just want to save my beautiful crib...(good Mom, I know).

*(I didn't take pictures throughout the process, mainly because...I think it's pretty simple and seeing the END product, you'll get the idea with the steps)

Step one
Cut fabric. If you don't have fabric long enough for the 50'' front (or whatever your dimensions of the crib are), just sew two pieces together to make the length.
The dimensions of our crib rails are 26'' by 50''...about. So I measured down the rail and doubled it for both sides and it came out to:
26''x6'' (two of these for each side) and 50'' by 12'' (for the front). The back rail is higher than the front and I'm pretty positive she can't reach it, nor will she care to chew against the wall when she's older.

Step two
Cut 1'' by 8'' fabric pieces. For the two short sides, I needed 10 strips each. For the long front piece, I needed 16 strips. So total, 36 strips.

Step three
Pin the 8 inch strips on the larger pieces of fleece. Short sides first: I started with placing two on the ends and one in the middle. Then I decided for the two side rails, that there needed to be 5 strips on both sides because I didn't want there to be too many gaps. So I put two more equal distance from the end piece and the middle piece. Get it? On the long front rail, I put 8 on each side. For some reason, putting an even amount seemed like a better fit because of the spacing of the rail slats. *If I could do it over, I would probably do 6 ties on the short rails instead of 5.

Step four
Sewing polar fleece is kind of tough. I figured, JUST SEW FAST.ALSO, sew a zig zag stitch. It is a better stitch than straight. hahaha the fabric sticks to the needle and pulls it if you sew slow, so just power through it. Keep control, put your finger on the reverse button, and get it going.

Final Product!
Here are some final pictures. I hope it makes sense! It probably took me an hour to do from start to finish. Brinley has already noticed it and pulled some of the ties. I double knotted the bows and if she unties them again, I'll just double knot it and cut off the extra pieces and forgo the bows.

I had already tied it, so the fleece is smooshy, but you can see how I sewed it right here.

Equal on both sides.

Double knotted bow.

Good shot of the short sides.

Bedroom update!

I'm SO excited to get our bedroom revamped. I found these fabulous 500 thread count pillow cases at Ross for $3.99 (!!!!!!) in the perfect grey shade I was looking for! YAY! I don't think we'll keep the two side wedding group shots, but I love that our wedding colors are kind of the colors we are shooting for in our bedroom. Yummy greens, tans, greys, and cream. YUM!

Next, I'm on the hunt for some side table lamps! Any good ideas??