30-Min Changing Pad Covers

Changing Table Pads need cute covers and they are so quick to make! 

We used a nice thick pad when our son was small (until about 6 months).  When he became more active, I felt better about using the standard thin pad because the railing around the changing table would help keep him from falling off.  You could modify either method for just about any changing pad.

For the thick pad:
Mine is 32 x 15 x 3.5 inches.  Basically, I just made a fitted sheet for it.  I used anti-pill fleece because it is SUPER soft and will not fray.  I know minky is very popular right now but I also hear it is a pain to cut and work with and I wanted something fast.

Needs: 3/4 yard fleece and 40" of 1/4" elastic

For any size: determine the thickness of your pad multiply by 2 and add 5".  This is the amount you want to add to the length & width of your fabric.  My pad was 3.5" thick so I added 12" (3.5x2+5) to the length and width of my pad resulting in a 27" x 44" rectangle of fleece.  Cut your fleece to size.

Line up the four corners of the fleece and cut out a 6" square. (6" is half of the 12" we added.)

Unfold your fleece and taking one missing corner at a time, pin the the 2 sides right sides together.  This will form the corner.  Sew a half inch seam.  No need for French seams, fleece won't fray!

 

Once all 4 corners are done, fold down a half inch of fleece all the way around the cover and pin in place.  Be sure to fold toward the underside.  I did not use an iron, I was focused on speed and don't think it made a difference.  This will form a case for the elastic.  If you want to be very nice or aren't using fleece, you can fold under 1/4", iron, fold under 1/2", iron and pin.

 

Sew your hem in place leaving an inch gap on one of the short sides.  You want to leave an opening to later insert the elastic.

 

Now for the elastic.  Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and push it through the gap you left in the hem.  Work it all the way through the cover.  If you are using a different size pad, determine the perimeter of your rectangle (length+width)x2.  Your elastic should be about half or less of this amount.

 

Once the elastic is worked through, overlap the ends by about an inch and sew them firmly together.

 

Work the elastic fully into the casing.  Sew closed the open gap. And done!

 

We are getting ready for Baby Angell #2.

 

 

For the thin pad:

Mine is 32x18 inches.  I simply made an envelope closure for it.  Once again I used fleece so that I didn't have to worry about fraying and because it is soft and fast.

 

 

 

Needs: 1/2 yard each of 2 colors of fleece

 

Cut each color into 17" x 40" fleece.  Pin the the 2 pieces right sides together along one long side.  Sew a half inch seam.  You can iron open the seam if desired.

 

Turn the fabric right side up onto your work space.  Measure 18" (width of pad) in the middle of each long side. This is the amount that you want to stay on the table.  Fold in each side to overlap this 18" (the same way many pillow shams are made).  If this sounds confusing, lay the fabric right side up and place your pad in the middle of it.  Fold the extra fabric from the sides over the pad. 

Remove the pad.  Pin the edges together.  You want this to fit snuggly and not be wider than the width of the pad.  Fleece stretches so tighter is better.

 

Sew the edges with a half inch seam.  Flip right side out and done!

Underside: 

If you like, you can add velcro to the back flaps to help hold them snuggly together.

I made each of these in about half an hour.  They are fast and soft.  I like to have 2 covers on hand so that one can be in play while the other is, inevitably, in the wash.  Once LM is fully potty trained, we'll set up the thick changing pad for the new baby.  Exciting!

Time: ~30 minutes each
Cost: ~$5 each

Felt Name Book

 

These are popular and so much fun!  I really enjoyed picking out the animals to go with each letter of my son's name.  Each page took 2-4 hours but most of that was spent on 'design time' while I tried to decide what to do and how to do it.

Mine is not as elaborate as many versions out there.  I only used felt and embroidery thread.  Many books incorporate buttons, ribbons, rick rack, etc.  Then there is the 'Quiet Book' idea which involves creating amazing activity pages.  I chose to make a simple name book. 

I used free clip art to create patterns for 2 animals but mostly felt that making them myself was easier and much less time consuming.  I have no natural drawing skills, and they turned out alright.  My advice: just wing it!

Here is a picture of a page pre-stitching:

And post-stitching:  Adding decorative stitches made a big difference.  I used two threads for all of the stitching on the pages.

 

I used a little fabric glue to hold the shapes down while stitching or, in some cases, instead of stitching.  Just be aware that fabric glue dries stiff and is DIFFICULT to sew through.  I had to really force the needle through if I had let the glue set.  I learned to only use a little glue and to sew the felt the same day.  If you use a lot or let it dry overnight, you'll have to fight with it a bit.  It was useful for eyes or spots I didn't want to stitch down.

 

 

 

The pages:

 

When the pages were done, I put them in order and whip stitched (simplest stitch!) the backs of consecutive pages together.  I didn't want the backs of the pages with the thread and knots showing.  Originally, I had hoped to be lazy and simply glue the backs of the pages together but my husband saw them without my saying a word about it and said, "That would look really cool hand sewn together."  So I was stuck.  And of course, he was right, I tried gluing a few together, but they look much more finished with the stitching.  Whip stitching around the 4 edges is super fast and mindless and I had them done in the time it took to watch a movie.  (I used 4 threads for the edges.)

 

To create the binding, I put the pages in order and ran a needle with 4 threads through the stitches on the left hand side of each page.  I didn't sew through the pages again, I just ran through the stitches.  I went down all 6 pages and then up all 6 pages catching stitches with the needle. I did this about every half inch down the edge.

 

 

I think this is a fun book and my son likes paging through it looking at the animals.  Baby #2 is due in 3 months and hopefully I'll have his book done before he turns 2!  If the ultrasound tech. had been more confident that I'm having a boy, I'd get started now, but I'd hate to make the wrong name! 

Craft time:  I only worked on this intermittently and not at all while dealing with morning sickness.  I would guess 4 hours per page.
Cost:  Very inexpensive!  Felt pages are often on sale and you can buy thread by the pack.
Age:  Probably 6mths-3yrs