Caring and loving parents try by any means to decorate the child’s room in order to give her comfort, beauty and, of course, to please the little owner. They order a bed in the form of a carriage for a girl, a bed in the form of a car for a boy. They paint the walls in all colors of the rainbow and sew curtains with images of their favorite cartoon characters. One of the ways to equip a nursery is to decorate the bed with a canopy. And the idea of ​​making a canopy on a crib with your own hands is worthy of applause!
The canopy over the crib is a great way to make your baby's sleep comfortable, safe and fabulous. The size of the canopy for the crib depends on one hundred percent of the age of the child. After all, decorating the bed with a cloth can be not only for a newborn, but also for an adult child. This accessory can be bought today in almost any children's store, but there is a risk not to fit it into an existing interior. But there is good news - the Internet is full of tips on how to sew a canopy on a crib with your own hands with a photo and detailed instructions. Let's take a closer look at how to do this.
Why is it needed?
A canopy is a canopy of fabric over a child’s bed, which, first of all, is needed in order to protect the baby from dust, insects, bright sunlight or light rays. For newborns, their functionality expands - numerous folds of canopy tissue are designed to hide from prying, often too prying eyes. And, of course, we must not forget about the aesthetic function, beautiful awnings easily give the interior tenderness and airiness. Different sizes of the canopy for the crib allow you to play with the appearance of the decoration. To create different images, it is enough to choose different fabric options - tulle, organza, chiffon, cotton. The latter copes with protection from sunlight.
History of the canopy
Many years ago, a beautiful fabric wrap was the privilege of the children of the padishahs and came to our culture from the East. The standard sizes of a canopy for a crib in eastern countries are tens of meters of the most expensive silk and brocade. And even earlier, the prototype of a modern canopy served as animal skins, which covered the temporary bed of primitive people in order to keep warm. And only when personal rooms appeared, the need for a canopy as a means of protection disappeared completely, leaving itself an exclusively aesthetic function.
Advantages and disadvantages of canopies
Like every product, the canopy has pros and cons. They, as a rule, are not critical, but - warned, then armed! So let's talk about them.
So, the advantages of the canopy:
- protects from drafts;
- protects from insects;
- protects against cold walls (although this plus is only possible if the wrap is made of dense fabric);
- the newborn is not afraid of open space;
- creates a feeling of security;
- protects from bright light.
Minuses:
- collects dust;
- needs regular washing;
- high price for products from expensive and natural fabrics;
- instability provokes injury for a small canopy user.
Features of sewing a canopy for a child
As mentioned above, the size of the canopy for the crib will directly depend on the size of the crib and the age of the child. In addition, we must not forget about what material the wrap will be sewn from - the consumption of fabric is of great importance.
- You need to start sewing only after you have chosen the type of fastening and installed it over the bed. It can be a mobile mount in the form of a special pin with a ring or hooks screwed into the ceiling. The dimensions of the canopy holder for the crib are usually from one to one and a half meters. But the older the child, the larger this size. Remember that you will need a lot of fabric, because it must cover the entire bed, and sometimes the entire space - from the ceiling to the floor. After sewing, the entire structure will need to be gently pulled onto the canopy holder, forming beautiful folds.
- Determine the size of the canopy on the crib.
- The main rule when sewing is to decide on the pattern and prepare it correctly. Those who are familiar with the rules of tailoring a variety of products can independently work on the design, resulting in an original and exclusive thing. For beginners in sewing, we recommend using ready-made patterns and repeating them exactly so as not to spoil the intended result.
- You can sew a wrap on the bed both from a whole piece of fabric, and from several parts, stitching them together. The fabric is better to choose thin, flowing, soft.
- As a treatment for the edges of the fabric, it is not recommended to use a heavy tape and any weighting elements; it is better to overcast the edges of the fabric. But to decorate the edge with a thin ribbon using a needle - why not? It looks neat and beautiful.
What does it take to sew a canopy?
You will need:
- the cloth;
- holder;
- satin ribbon;
- canopy pattern for a crib;
- accessories for sewing;
- materials and accessories for decor.
Sewing a canopy is more convenient with a sewing machine, but if you are the owner of a sufficient amount of time and patience, you can sew it with your hands.
In total, for a standard size bed cover, you need from 2.5 to 3 meters of fabric with a standard width of one and a half meters. The holder can be purchased at any children's store or made with your own hands - thick wire, round-nose pliers and strong hands will greatly help you in this. In order to decorate the upper part of the canopy, you cannot do without a wide strong tape - 3.5 meters if you do not form a bow, and plus 0.5 m if you want to decorate the wrap with a beautiful bow. For additional decor, you can use flowers made of fabric, ruffles, sequins, beads - all this abound in the store for needlewomen.
Canopy Fabric Selection
The canopy that you hang over the berth of a child or adult must be sewn necessarily from the so-called "breathing" fabric. For sewing children's canopies most often use tulle, chiffon. Moreover, the dimensions of the canopy on the crib make it easy to form beautiful folds from these fabrics. In addition, they freely pass air even in the heat. Variants of fabric for a canopy on a crib, sizes with photos and designs are widely represented on the forums of needlewomen.
If you plan to install a bed in the sunny part of the apartment, it makes sense to choose a more dense material, for example, linen, satin or cotton. So say the experts. Some solve several problems at once and sew two canopies - one of dense material for the cold season, and the second - of light, breathable and transparent for hot days and nights.
It must be remembered that no matter what fabric you choose, it must be natural. No synthetics for canopies! It does not allow air to pass through well, it can create a greenhouse effect and completely deprive the possibility of the person whose bed covers to sleep soundly and soundly.
As for the colors - they depend on the gender of the child, the interior of the nursery and the aesthetic preferences of the parents. The general recommendations of designers are gentle pastel colors, preferably plain fabrics. Here for the decor, you can use bright fabrics and accessories.
Canopy mount
As canopy mounts can be used:
- hooks in the ceiling;
- special metal structures;
- metal holders;
- hula hoops;
- embroidery hoops;
- cornices for curtains.
Canopy in ten minutes
How to sew a canopy on a crib with your own hands step by step, we will consider below. To do this, you will need:
- large hoop (diameter not less than 60 cm);
- 3 pairs of curtains in standard sizes from tulle (length 300 cm, width 250 cm) or similar pieces of fabric;
- 5 meters of tape 3-5 cm wide;
- hook;
- needles and threads / sewing machine;
- drill, dowel and hook.
We start sewing.
- First you need to disassemble the hoop, removing the protective mechanism from them - we will need it later.
- The next step is to bend the top edge of the curtains by 5 cm and sew on a sewing machine. If there is no sewing machine, you can use ordinary needles. We do the same with all six curtains.
- We string the curtains on the hoop and fix them with the help of a protective mechanism.
- We cut the tape into three identical pieces. Their length will depend on how low you want to hang the canopy.
- We fasten the ribbon on the hoop every two curtains in the form of a loop.
- We connect all three loops together, linking them at the top point.
- Using a drill, we make a hole in the ceiling and fix the hook.
- Hang the canopy on the hook.
Canopy Decoration Options
There are an incredible number of ways to make a fabric product not only useful, but elegant, original, beautiful. Due to the different sizes of the canopy, different accessories are used on the crib - the more fabric, the heavier elements can be used for decoration.
Cascading ribbons, braid, appliques in the form of toys, a wide frill, ruffles, lace - decoration depends only on imagination and the availability of resources. You can also combine the canopy with the now-popular musical carousel, the baby will surely enjoy this neighborhood.
If time and money allow you - make two canopies. Thus, you can "play" with their design, as well as change the wraps on the bed depending on the time of year, and when you need to put them in order.