Hanging Crib Toy Bag Tutorial

Nap time is very precious, both for me and my little guy.  We mommies will do whatever it takes to preserve that time!  I've been dreaming up a way to keep a small stash of toys in Owen's crib.  The stash would need to be out of sight so it's not a distraction when he's trying to go to sleep, but will be a fun surprise when he wakes up.  I came up with a hanging toy bag that snaps around the top rail of his crib, and I'll show you how to make it. 

**For those of you who would rather skip the sewing part, just grab a small bag and jump down to the part of the tutorial that shows you how to attach the snaps.  I wanted to make something that was more personalized to my little guy's room.  Since I had some of the fabric I used to make his crib skirt leftover I used that, and it matches so perfectly!

Here's what you'll need:

• Two snap sets
• 17 inches of ribbon cut in half
• One 12.5" x 25" piece of fabric for the outside of the bag (We'll call this "Fabric A")
• One 12.5" x 25" piece of fabric for the inside of the bag (We'll call this "Fabric B")
  
• One 13" x 25.5" piece of batting

Lay Fabric A on top of the batting, pin and sew all around the edges.  (All seam allowances are 1/4 inch.)  Then trim off the excess batting.Fold the rectangle like the picture shows below leaving 3 inches of Fabric A showing at the top.  Sew down the right and left sides.

Next you're going to box the corners. I measured 3 inches in from the pointy tip on the center seam and made a mark then made sure that mark on the center seam was three inches from the top and three inches from the bottom (as shown in the picture below).  

After sewing down that line, trim the tip and repeat on the other side. 

Now we're going to move to the liner.  Fold the cut piece of Fabric B like you did earlier, leaving 3 inches of the fabric at the top.  If you're using a two-sided fabric, be sure the right sides are folded together.  The trick here is that you're going to sew all the way down one side and on the other side leave a 3-inch opening in the middle where my fingers are below.Turn the liner inside out so that the seams are on the inside place it inside the outer part of the bag we made earlier.  (The right side of Fabric A will be touching the right side of Fabric B.)  Now pin the two pieces together and sew all the way around the top edge.  Turn the bag inside out using the small hole in the liner.  Once the bag is turned inside out you'll need to attach your ribbon snaps.  Measure 3 inches over from the top flap on the bag and pin your ribbon in place.  I sewed my ribbon on, but if you're just now joining this tutorial with a pre-made bag you can attach the ribbon with fabric glue just about 1/2 inch on the tip of the ribbon, allow it to dry and then move on to the snap part with us. Once the ribbon tip is securely fastened to the back of your bag it's time for the snaps.  Follow the instructions on the snap kit you bought for attaching the snaps.  The back of the bag pictured below will have the back half of the snap set.Attach the front half of the snap set to the ribbon, like I'm doing in the picture below.  (My snaps look like little white buttons.  They came this way.  If you like this look I would recommend buying snaps that are made like that rather than glueing on buttons... that's a choking hazard.)Here's a view of what the bag looks like attached to the crib from the back.
And the view from the front.  No, Owen's crib is not always this neat... I staged it like this for the picture with the pillows I made during my second trimester.  Let me know if you attempt this project!  I'd love to see how you change it up for your little one!