The Very Hungry Caterpillar crib teething pads

 For the nursery, I made these last week.  They are teething pads for the crib.  Genius, I know.  Thank you pinterest!  Since we were blessed to be given a brand-new, very expensive crib when we were expecting our first child, we see no reason to buy a new one.  It is amazingly sturdy and has absolutely lived up to it's cost.  Being through three kids, however, has taken some unsightly tolls on it...Yeah, for some reason babies like to chew on the railing as you can see in the picture below.  Yeah, these "teething" marks go around the entire crib.  I decided that since we will be going all out for this nursery, we couldn't have a gigantic eyesore distracting from it all. And in case anyone is wondering why we are going all out for this particular nursery, it has nothing to do with the fact that we are finally having a girl.  No, it has everything to do with the fact that we can actually afford to now.  That, coupled with the fact that this may very likely be our last baby, has been the pushing factor in our decision to go big or go home!

 I decided that since these pads will be used to protect the crib from teething babies, it would be funny to put food fabric as the center.  Now our little girl can suck on imaginary watermelons, cheese, ice-cream...You get the idea.  My husband thought it was pretty cute.  For the borders, I sewed 3-1/2 strips of fabric together and then cut them down to the proper measurements needed to wrap around the crib.

I have seen these done two ways.  One with buttons and one with ties.  I think the buttons look cuter, so that's what I did.  If you're making some and want to use buttons, make sure you sew the fabric scraps that have the button holes in them on with the binding, not after you bind the pads.  Also, make sure you place the button hole scraps in the right places, so that the crib railings don't block them from wraping around to the button.  You'll have to make your own button holes sewn onto the scraps if this is what you choose to do.  The measurements all depend upon the size of your crib and the thickness you want.  Always remember to leave a seam allowance of at least 1/4" when cutting fabric for sewing.  I quilted the pads together to give them a more professional feel.  Alan was super impressed with the results!  I think they turned out dang cute!  If you want to make your own, go here for the tutorial.  You'll notice I did some things differently from the original posting, so feel free to ask any quesitons if you have any!