Preschool Work: Machine Knitted Baby Blanket & Coverings for Mattress Pads

The first blanket is done!

The back is attached at each color change by “hanging a hem”, picking up the stitches of the front and hanging them on the needles, then knitting over both stitches.

This was the easiest job: just stapling upholstry grade vinyl to a board. There is a foam pad covered in batting underneath. This changing table is in the bathroom and is mounted on a platform that fits over the tub.

This was a trickier job: to cover the 2″ foam pads that fit inside the stand alone changing table and baby cribs:

I made piping using 3/8″ cording and 1.25″ wide strips of vinyl. I needed more than 15 yards of it. It was tedious but very easy using a piping foot. I wanted the piping around the top to prevent any wetness from running down between the pad and the wood.

I cut the tops using the dimensions of the foam pads and sewed the piping to the top section using 3.5 stitch length and a leather needle. Taking a half inch seam allowance made the foam padding and batting fill out the vinyl covers better.

The bottoms were cut to measurement plus 4 inches since the foam is 2 inches thick. I’ll show you the method for making the corners tomorrow.

I found it in the older edition of the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. It’s not in the new 2003 edition.

The foam and batting wouldn’t slide easily into the cloth-backed vinyl casings so full length openings were definitely required.

On the first one, the 40″ long changing pad I used two 20″ separating zips with the tops abutted together in the middle of the opening.

I decided that zippers were too much extra fuss and work so switched to velcro. Unfortunately I miscalculated the overlap on the velcro by 1″ so the covers don’t fit as tightly but I was under a deadline and the functionality wasn’t compromised.

Tonight I’ll close with more shots of the school interior:

The Nursery

Cubbies separating different age group areas