How to Make Bows for a Crib Bumper

Bows help secure the bumper to the crib.

Crib bumpers serve both practical and decorative purposes in a baby’s room. These bumper pads protect your baby’s head from the crib’s hard slats. Often featuring brightly colored fabrics with kid-pleasing prints, crib bumpers can coordinate with other elements of the bedroom’s decor. Cute bows allow you to add an extra decorative touch to a bumper. When tied around the slats of the crib, these bows help secure the bumper to the crib.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• 8 yards of ribbon, 2.5 inches wide
• Fabric pencil
• Sewing machine
• Thread that matches the color of your ribbon
• Pins

Instructions

1. Cut your ribbon into pieces that are 18 inches long. You will need 16 pieces of ribbon.

2. Place the bumper in your child’s crib. With the fabric pencil, mark the position of each of the four corner posts on the bumper. Then, mark the locations of the slats that fall in the mid-point of each side of the crib.

3. Remove the bumper. At each of the marks you made with the fabric pencil, measure 2 inches down from the top of the bumper and 2 inches up from the bottom. Mark these measurements with the fabric pencil. You should have 16 markings on the bumper -- eight for the tops and bottoms of the corners and eight for the tops and bottoms of the sides. These markings indicate where you will sew the ribbons to the bumper. You need to have ribbons on the top and bottom edges of the bumper to keep it securely fastened to the crib.

4. Thread your sewing machine.

5. Remove the cover from the crib bumper.

6. Fold one of the ribbon pieces in half. Place the center of the ribbon on one of the locations marked with the fabric pencil. Use a pin to secure the ribbon.

7. Sew the ribbon to the bumper with your sewing machine and remove the pin. Repeat the process with each of the remaining 15 ribbons.

8. Place the cover back on the bumper and position the bumper in your baby’s crib.

9. Take the ends of one of the ribbons and tie a bow around one of the crib’s slats. Tie bows with the remaining pieces of ribbon to secure the bumper to the crib.

10. Trim the ends of the bows with your scissors so that there are no dangling ends. Loose, dangling ribbons can pose a safety hazard for your child.

Tips & Warnings

• Most bumper covers are machine washable. Choose a machine-washable ribbon so that you will be able to clean the bumper easily.

References

• Gentle Baby Care; Elizabeth Pantley
• The Everything Sewing Book: From Threading the Needle to Basting the Hem, All You Need to Alter and Create Beautiful Clothes, Gifts, and Decorations; Sandra Detrixhe