Crib

Sometime ago I found a darling doll crib on Craigslist. It was within my price range so it came home to live at my house. My idea of a Victorian crib was of black iron, not the gold color that it had been painted. My idea was that it would be of iron. One spray can of flat black Rustoleum later, and all was right with my dolly world.

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think a crib without a mattress would be a uncomfortable place to sleep for anyone. Not even a doll.

Mattress

Being that I had ticking fabric left over from a couple of past projects, I decided to make one. I had more of the red ticking than the blue ticking, so the body of the mattress was the red and the piping was of the blue.

Piping

To make the piping, I went to the kitchen for some twine. It was too narrow for what I imagined how the piping would look. Doubling it up made it just perfect. I cut the blue fabric on the bias and seamed the strips together. I folded the strip over the doubled up kitchen twine, matching the edges. Using the zipper presser foot I sewed close to the twine.

I measured the crib and cut out two rectangles of fabric. For the sides, I cut a long strip about 3″ wide. Then I cut out matching cotton quilt batting. I quilted the mattress because that is how I imagined it. White thread running up the white stripes of the fabric. Putting it all together was a little awkward.

I pinned the piping between the top and the side. Then carefully sewed as close to the piping as I could. I needed to round out the corners while sewing on the piping. Worrying the whole time that the corners would look horrible. I lucked out, they were great. Adding the bottom went just as well as the top. I had left a hole for stuffing.

Stuffing

All the while that I was sewing, I was thinking about what I would be filling the mattress with. I had some Fiberfill stashed in the back of the closet. To be honest, I try not to use it. I like to use fibers that will someday degrade back into the earth. I also had a cube full of scraps, the “coleslaw” from my cabbage patch of left over fabric. You know what?