DIY Pack and Play Sheets

One of our favorite gifts that we received when expecting Hugo was our Eddie Bauer pack and play. We spent a good deal of time trying to figure out which brand of pack and play to choose and ultimately the Eddie Bauer pack and play won us over with it's look and function. Not to mention that it is incredibly well built. However, one thing that we didn't know when we put the pack and play on our registry is that most pack and play sheets will not fit the mat. Gah! We relied on the pack and play a lot when Hugo was a newborn to about 2 months but he got tired of it quickly and preferred his crib so I never made sheets for the mat. Once he became a little older and needed to be contained, he continued to prefer other things to his pack and play. Soon enough, we started leaving the pack and play at my parent's house so Hugo had his own space when I needed to go to an appointment and leave Hugo with my parents. We thought that we would have had the opportunity to camp this summer but unfortunately timing and weather just didn't work out so we were running out of use for the pack and play.



Luckily, family is expecting their first little one (a sweet baby girl!) and the pack and play will be put to good use. I remember the frustration of trying to make standard sheets work for the mat so I knew that I definitely needed to make at least a couple of them before passing the pack and play on. It's a relief not having to worry about what to put on the mat or worry about the bunching/wrinkles from the standard sheets.

Truthfully, I had a lot of fun making the sheets. Like, too much fun. I told my husband that I am making every linen in Hugo's room from now on. It's so easy and so fun to customize the looks. There's no going back! My only regret is that I didn't make them sooner.

So, if you have an Eddie Bauer pack and play and you want to know how to make these excellent fitting sheets, continue reading! They might be a little tight/small for a standard pack and play size but you can certainly double check the dimensions to see if this will work for your brand and model too!

Materials:

1.) Fabric of your choice. I like having leftovers for my stash so I got 2 yds.
2.) Rotary cutter or scissors
3.) 1/4 inch elastic
4.) Fabric marker or pencil

Step One: I took my measurements of the mat which worked out to be 42 inches by 30.5 inches.

Step Two:

I laid my fabric on a hard surface and marked my fabric at the measurements. Depending on the pattern layout I would round to 31 inches instead of the 30.5 inches. While cutting, be sure to add in your seam allowance.

Step Three: Then I marked my squares on each corner at 3 inches by 3 inches and cut them out. This is with the seam allowance included. If your fabric is flush, you can just fold the fabric in quarters, mark the corner, cut, and unfold. It's a lot faster to do it that way but this particular fabric was cut wrong at the store and wouldn't fold the way I wanted it to.

Step Four:
Starting with your corners, it's time to sew! I did French seams because I prefer how clean they look inside. With wrong sides together, I sewed 1/4 inch, flipped inside out, and sewed at 5/8ths. Yes, French seams are that easy! Just don't forget to iron the seam to the side.

Ta-Da! Nice and clean!

Step Five:

Next you want to fold your raw edges by 1/4 inch, iron, and pin. Then you want to fold your edges over again, iron, and pin for a nice clean look.

Step Six:

Sew along the edge as closely as possible leaving a space to thread the elastic through. My elastic was cut to 40.5 inches. I really like sheets to be nice and tight. Once you have your elastic ready to go, sew the edges of the elastic together and then sew the gap closed.

You're done!