Things that go BUMP in the night

To say our girl is a restless sleeper would be the understatement of the century.

Forget tossing and turning; She-Who-Worships-Pink flips like a pancake and shouts while she's at it.
She's been this way since she was a baby.
Having spent two weeks on the road sharing a bedroom and sometimes bed with her, I know she's hasn't grown out of it.
Both myself and the Daddy Person know only too well the extent of her nocturnal gymnastics (not to mention nocturnal nudity) because we have the sleep debt to prove it and it's for this reason I've been making custom cot and bed bumpers for her since infancy.

Both her Stokke bassinet and cot were like a padded cells; I banked on the fact she didn't stay still long enough to smother herself and she was at a far greater risk of a concussion the way she rolled over smacking her little head against the wood sides.

When we graduated to the Junior Bed (IKEA's Gulliver) it came with one of those protective guard rails included. She she wouldn't roll out, but then we had the head banging to consider.

So after a trip to the local hardware and half an hour on the sewing machine I invented 'the safety sausage'!

The fabric is IKEA of course - I love the pure cottons and with Miss Pink's circus theme Light Blocking Bed Tent the bright colours and patterns fit well. Unfortunately Vitaminer Vimpel (the bunting pattern) fabric and curtains along with the rest of these fabrics seem to have been discontinued which is a crying shame.  I'm lucky I bought up when I could - I still have a stash :0)

So this is just an extra thick draft stopper (designed for a door). While we had the safety rail it rested against that to protect flailing arms legs and head.

A bit blurred but you get the general idea..

Now the rail has gone and the safety sausage is on the other side - that is when she's not dragging it around the house playing with it.

I'm on the look out for another extra thick one for the fur-person's bed: I noticed recently that when he's lying on his mat, his spine is pressed against our enormous heritage skirting boards.  This may explain why he's been sneaking onto the sofa at night.

Or he's just a cheeky, sneaky sofa sleeping dog that needs a good telling off and some closed doors to contemplate...

Holy Sheet!

Holy Sheet, what a crazy week it's been.

School holidays are O.V.E.R. but I use the term 'holiday' oh so very loosely (but that is a post for another day).

It's business as usual except that I must out of practice or something because I am forever sprinting against the clock and still managing to be running late for every damned thing.

Seeing as I find myself  project managing a bathroom renovation in between school runs, with 'Tradies'* endlessly marching through the house being crotched* by The Orange Dog, I thought this week's craftiness better be quick, painless and useful.

We started out on this parenting journey sparing no expense and did the whole Stokke® Sleepi™-bassinet-cot-junior bed thing.  But that got a bit tired five years on and a big oval bed, getting bigger again, was no longer practical (or cute) in the space. Besides the making of many oval fitted sheets was also getting a tad tedious.
My long love affair with IKEA is no secret and I really do like their beds, but IKEA have their own special sizes for pretty much everything which causes problems - for me at least.

We ended up with IKEA's Gulliver Bed  part of the attraction being the wonderful range of good quality budget priced bed linen.

So why do I find myself again, making custom sheets? Because I hate-hate-vomit-loathe the only fitted sheet they stock for kid's beds? They're made of stretchy, sweaty, lumpy flannel with elastic that's too loose to hold it in place, that's why.

And IKEA have this terrible tease set up in the children's department with displays of cute-as, (100% cotton  - washer and dryer proof) by-the-meter fabrics you can sew up yourself if you're inclined to.  After trying one of their horrid fitted flannel sheets, my inclination was thoroughly confirmed.

So down to business - grounded as I've been with a house full of stinks, dust sheets and work boots wearing out the carpet, I locked myself away for a couple of hours and finally cut up some of this cute-as IKEA cotton.

The HOW TO bit: 
(and time for sew-phobics to tune out..or not if you're just curious as to how hard this stuff is - so not, actually)

I laid the mattress on the floor and draped the fabric over it.

You need to wriggle it around a bit to make sure you have the same amount of excess on all sides.

You'll need the excess to be three times that of the mattress thickness, so that including your elastic casing you'll have enough to tuck under the mattress and then some.

If you have it even all round you can then pin it into kind of hospital corners and then cut the corners out.

Then sew the raw edges of these corners together. (all edges A to edges B).

At this point you should have something roughly the shape of an enormous shoe-box.

Roll under the raw edge all round the sheet and sew or zig-zag to neaten it up and stop it fraying in the wash.

After that's done take some mid-stretch elastic and measure approximately twice the length of your mattress.

Place the elastic on the edge of your sheet and sew a rolled hem/ casing over it -  being careful not to catch the elastic in the stitches. Keep pulling the elastic through as you sew the casing and work your way to the end.

Tip - since all elastics vary in their stretch, I leave a tiny opening at the end so I can pull the elastic trough and tighten it if necessary.

And here you have my finished product - I even whipped up a quick envelope pillow case...

I wish I could tell you which fabric this one is, but I bought it a while back and it seems to be discontinued now. Such a pity because it's so colourful and still looks great with our Block-Out Circus Tent.

Well that's it for this week's crafty stuff - stay tuned for the next imperfect parenting post. Meanwhile if you're looking for a crafty project you can share with a small person try these:

Can't see the orchard  for the toilet rolls..

The party hats of death..

 LOST IN TRANSLATION:

Again for my offshore readers:

*Tradies - Australian slang for those men in steel capped boots, with dusty tool belts, often flashing butt-crack, while making themselves useful but traipsing dirt through the house ( plumbers carpenters and the like).

*Crotched - my term for when the dog jabs people in their nether regions with his golf-ball sized wet nose. This can be done with excellent timing on a deserving victim  High Noon style but mostly it's something I feel a need to apologise for.

Going to the Dark Side...

Darth Vader And Son- by Jeffrey Brown

Has anyone actually tried to block-out ALL the light in a kids room – without actually painting the windows black?

I have. 

Talk about 'going to the dark side" I have one of those children who needs almost total black to get a wink of sleep.

So I tried block-out curtains and light came in over the top of the rod.

I bought numerous block-out blinds and light came in down the sides.

I tried both together – better but I still needed bits of Velcro/ blue tack/ whatever to stop random little sunspots from ferreting under over and around.

So following my next venture into custom manufacturing - the perfect block-out roman blind – a truly complex and horrible job I might add, which failed due to an uneven window frame, I had a brain wave.
Put the block-out fabric around the kids head - it's the ONLY way.

Ok so before you report me to the Department of Children’s Services for suffocating my child take a look at this bed tent:

This looks harder than it is to make and besides that, I have instructions here for two versions, the one pictured above and another no-sewing-required cheats way: (scroll way down to the end for that one)

So are you ready?

YOU WILL NEED:

A large strong ceiling hook attached to the bearers in the roof – best to get a handyman to do this for you.

I used a set of tab-top IKEA children’s curtains; VITAMINER VIMPEL to be exact. ($34.99) A couple of meters of block-out curtain lining which I sewed to only one panel (the one facing the window).

One small sized Hula-hoop ideally 181cm circumference (57cm diameter). Try to find one that is held together with a plug as shown (rather than as staple). 

This will save you having to remove the staple and carve your own plug from a wine cork.  This hula hoop is from Toys R Us, and with it’s pull apart plug it’s like a circular curtain rod which is just what we need.

 Last but not least you’ll need some extra IKEA fabric to make the top. I used a piece from IKEA’s Vitaminer Rand  range:

MAKING THE TENT PANELS

So for keen Sewers, your first job is to line one panel with block-out fabric – lay your block-out fabric  panel on the floor and lay your outer fabric panel over the top. Leave around 4cms allowance for hems all round, and cut it to size.  I sewed the side hems first then sewed the hemmed block-out panel to the inside top of the curtain just under the tabs. !!! Be sure that the wrong side of the block-out faces the wrong side of the curtain panel. 

To get best results, hang this curtain up on one of your window curtain rods and tack by hand at 35cm intervals down the curtain length. 

This avoids a common problem of curtain linings, pulling and/or twisting the curtains out of shape.

 

MAKING THE BIG TOP

Making the Big-Top is like making a drawstring bag with no bottom. Whatever size hula-hoop you use cut the fabric 2cms wider than the circumference of the hoop this allows a 1cm seam. My big top is 40cms long finished so you need to add 5cms at the top for the drawstring casing and about 4cms at the bottom to attach the  bunting/flags and turn up to hem.  Fig a.

Before sewing the side seam, top and bottom, finish your raw edges by running a fine zigzag or over-lock stich along all raw edges.

When sewing the side seam, leave the inside top of your side seam open.  Snip or buttonhole another opening directly opposite to leave two places to bring the ends of the drawstring through for hanging -so that your tent wont hand lopsided.

 

ATTACHING FLAGS AND TABS

To fit my 181cm hoop I used 13 flags - 15cm wide by 17cms long. Fig b

 You will also need 13 loops of cotton tape 3cms wide and 10cms long. (You can buy this at any fabric or haberdashery store.) These will be folded in half and sewn under the centre of each flag on the very inside bottom hem of you tent top, ready to thread through the hoop. When you’ve attached your bunting and tabs to the raw bottom edge fold up press and topstitch (see Fig’s a & c).

 

 

Open your hoop and thread the curtain tabs and top tabs alternately until they’re all in place. fig c.

Thread some thick ribbon for your drawstring through the casing at the top, pulling out a loop at both openings and loop your large rubber band  through both loops, you’re ready to get up that ladder and hang!

You man need to adjust the length of your drawstring to suit the tent length/ ceiling hight.

 

Now the Easy way out:

Ok  if you’re not up for sewing there’s a cheats way out  - Lincraft & Spotlight sell block-out tab & ring top kids curtains in a variety of fun prints on both pink and blue backgrounds, and you can make a festive tent top from just a bunch of multi coloured wide ribbons looped over the Hula hoop and tied together at the top.  With a lot of colourful ribbon, you don’t need to go to the trouble of making bunting (little triangles) around the top it can look quite festive without.

I got our handyman in to install a strong hook and took his advice to tie the tent top to a thick elastic band. That way if ‘someone’ tries to swing on it the tent will come down rather than the ceiling.

Other nice touches I used here where IKEA's VITAMINER VIMPEL Matching quilt cover and pillow case for $17.99

And just look at this gorgeous hexagon cushion courtesy of SewPaintIt. And yes, the reverse-side fabric is from IKEA as well.

 

Good luck and sweet dreams. :0) 

 

or try a little more bedtime reading...

 

sweet dreams

 

 

Kookakaraoke