DIY Cot Linen - Ta Daaaaaa!

Good lord, what a week last week was! Let's just say that amongst the highlights -- Fern, Dan and then myself (not to be left out) each spent quality time with our heads draped glamorously over the toilet. So pleasant. And my home internet has been down for 7 days now. Still is. Which is driving me insane. So my apologies for having been away, but I hope to be back properly this week. I can't wait to catch up on the week that wasn't!


ANYWAY. Back to the land of the living. You might remember this post, when I drooled over gorgeous (but expensive!) cot linen and dreamed about making my own, less expensive but still gorgeous alternative... or this one, when I decided I could do it, and went shopping for the fabric.


Well folks, mission accomplished!


Over the course of a day, my seamstress/ MIL Lesley and I made the cot skirt and pillow (I did the cutting, she did the sewing!) and I cut out the pieces for the quilt-as-you-go which Lesley delivered last night, all completed! She assures me it is the world's easiest quilt to make, as it is just rectangles of fabric sewn together, and quilted along the way.

We didn't use any patterns, but my rough process for the pillow was to grab an old cushion insert and measure the diameter/ height. Then, I just cut out the pieces of material in that approximate size (allowing a bit of a seam) with literally scraps I salvaged from making the quilt. Then, I pinned it all together into the pillow shape and sewed up the 3 sides together. Then, we turned it the right way out, stuffed the pillow insert inside and hand sewed the 4th side together. Natually, a zip or foldover would have been more professional but this was the quickest way to get it done in one sitting!

With the cot skirt, I found some instructions here which we loosely followed. Measuring the mattress, we cut up an old sheet to that size (because this material sits underneath and will thus never be seen) and saved the more expensive material for the actual skirt. My MIL made it look easy, but the crib skirt is clearly a tiny bit more complex than the rest of the process and I'll admit I'm not sure I could do it by myself!

I didn't want anything overly fussy or complex (unlike Fern's amazing quilt) because once I have the baby and know whether it is a girl or boy, I will probably redesign the nursery and most probably the cot linen as well!


So, without further ado, here are the pics:

Would love to know what you (honestly!) think!

ps. Tour of the nursery to follow... with any luck this week!