Bassinet Makeover

My original plan for our little man was to move the crib we have into our bedroom and he can start his days sleeping in that. Then I came across this bassinet at a local thrift store and it was half off for $15...so I thought it might be nice to save some of our bedroom space until he makes the move into our daughter's bedroom. I used some Harley Davidson fabric that I found at Goodwill last week. My husband is a Harley lover, a Harley rider, a Harley mechanic, and now even teaches the subject for a living. So, I guess you could say we like motorcycles in this house?

So, I paid my $15, loaded it up in the back of my mom's truck, and scared my husband when he saw me walking through the door with this:

Oh come on...it's beautiful in it's own "why were lace and ribbons ever a trend?" way:)

I wanted to make my own cover for it, and I tried to use the existing one that was on there as a pattern...but it just didn't seem to give me the same look I wanted. So in the end...I just measured the bassinet and winged it!

I started by tracing the mattress to make the bottom part of my cover.

(And yes, you can be jealous of the awesome floral mattress that came with this gem)

I traced it with an extra 1" all the way around. I knew I could always take it in if I needed to...but if it was too tight...then the whole project would end badly.

Next, I placed the mattress and the new mattress piece I cut out into the bottom of the bassinet to see how it fit. I then measure from the top of the mattress to the top of the bassinet edge and half way around (I needed two pieces to make the inner edge).

When I am trying to recover something, I like to tape on the pieces I have made to make sure it looks like it will all come together when I sew it.

I cut out another piece for the inner edge and then measured the whole outer edge and made two pieces for that as well (my seams are on the two long ends of the bassinet). I decided I wanted the cover to come down on the outside about 6 inches.

Finally, I sewed it all together. I started by sewing together the two inner edge pieces at each end (right sides facing), creating a big circle or "bumper" for the bassinet. Next, I sewed the bottom piece to the inner edge (right sides facing). Now I had what looked like a fabric basket. Finally, I took the two outer pieces (also sewn together at each end with right sides facing) creating another large circle, and sewed that to the edge of the inner piece.

The outside of the bassinet was a little larger than the inside measurement, so that's why I have a little pucker in the middle of the front (and middle of the back) of my cover.

Also, just to make sure it fit securely, I folded under the outer edge that was still raw and sewed it all the way around with a 1" seam allowance, leaving a 2" opening. I then measured some elastic around the outside of the bassinet and strung it through my opening. I sewed the ends of the elastic together, fed it into the opening, and sewed the opening shut.

Here is the final product (after my husband also touched up the paint job). I made a little orange and black blanket to match too.

Also, if you want a little more padding than just the mattress, you could sew some batting to the wrong side of your bottom piece or iron some fusible felt onto it for a little more cushion.

I'm sorry there weren't many photos with this tutorial. I was sewing it late at night and trying to figure it out as I went along. It was actually one of the easiest projects I have done in a while. It only has a few pieces to it, but it's the measuring that takes a little time.

I love the fresh new look it has and I can't wait to bring home our little guy so he can try it out:)

Price:

bassinet: $15

fabric: $2.50

elastic: $.10

Total: $17.60

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