DIY Sewing Tutorial – Cover for Halo Bassinest Mattress

In this super simple DIY tutorial, I will show you how to make a homemade bassinet mattress cover for the Halo Bassinest mattress to add a touch of personality and comfort to your sweet baby’s little bed!

Recently we welcomed our very first baby into our hearts and home. And obviously, in preparation for baby’s arrival, we needed a bassinet!

We decided to purchase the Halo Baby Flex BassiNest after some deliberation.

And we like the Halo bassinet, all except for one thing: the mattress.

I felt sorry for our dear baby to have to lay on the crisp, cool surface! (Even though she was swaddled!) So I decided to put my sewing skills to good use and make a homemade cover for the mattress with soft, warm fabric so my baby could sleep on a more comfortable surface instead.

If you’re like me, looking for an easy solution, here you go! I will show you how I did it, step by step. It’s very easy and should be done in less than half an hour, even if you’re a beginner! (Unless the baby needs to be fed, of course.)

The envelope design method I used is similar to this homemade pillow cover tutorial; I chose to do it this way because of the hourglass shape of the mattress.

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Supplies

Fabric – I used a piece of soft and stretchy rib knit fabric similar to this one. A stretchy piece of fabric was the best choice for me so I didn’t need to be as precise in my cutting and sewing, and it would still stretch nicely to fit well.

Fabric scissors – this is my all time favorite scissors for cutting fabric.

Pins – any regular pins will work great. Even classic safety pins will do.

Measuring tape – you’ll want one of these so you can “measure twice and cut once.”

Sewing machine – I really like my Bernina sewing machine, and use it all the time!

Thread – I like to keep a large spool of thread on hand for impromptu sewing projects just such as this one.

How to make a DIY Bassinet Mattress Cover

Cutting…

On a large flat surface (I used the floor!) lay out your piece of fabric, in a single layer. If your piece of fabric is folded in half, you’ll want to unfold it and make sure you have only one layer of fabric for this first step.

We’re using the mattress itself for a pattern so now that you have the fabric prepared, lay the mattress on the fabric. Take your fabric scissors and cut all around the mattress, leaving a half inch margin. You just cut the top piece for the mattress cover!

Next, fold the fabric over creating a double layer again. Cut a straight edge along the one side of the double layer of fabric. 

Now we’re going to use the first piece we cut as a pattern for the next two pieces. Arrange the first piece of fabric pattern on the doubled fabric with two-thirds of the fabric pattern on and one-third off the fabric.

Cut right around the pattern, creating two bottom pieces for the mattress cover.

You should have three pieces as shown on the picture below.

Hemming…

Next we’re ready to hem the two bottom pieces. If you’re using a t-shirt or knit type fabric you can skip this step, since your fabric won’t fray. Otherwise, you’ll want to hem them. (My fabric won’t fray but I hemmed them anyway!) To do this, fold over the raw edge twice and sew, perfectly concealing any raw edges that are prone to fraying. If you have a serger, you could totally just serge this raw edge to stop any fraying.

Arranging and pinning…

Now it’s time to lay the three pieces together and pin in preparation for sewing! On your flat surface, lay the first piece (the top of the mattress cover) right side up. Lay the two hemmed bottom pieces on top with the right side down, overlapping one another. Use pins to pin the fabric pieces together, every couple of inches, all around the edge of the pieces.

And finally…sewing the DIY Bassinet Mattress Cover!

Now for the sewing! Sew 3/8th inches deep, all around the edge. Once you’ve sewed the three pieces together, you’ll want to either zig zag stitch or serge the edges as well if you’re using a fabric that will fray. Mine won’t, so I’m not worrying about serging or zig zagging to prevent fraying. 

And now for the fun part! Turn the finished mattress cover inside out and fit it on the unique shape of the Halo BassiNest mattress! And rest assured that your precious little baby will have a soft, warm place to sleep tonight, instead of a crisp cool mattress.♥️

NOTES

🚨Important: You want this cover to fit tightly of course, so it doesn’t bunch up and create a suffocation hazard. If it doesn’t fit nice and snug, turn it inside out again and sew the seam deeper. If it’s too tight, rip out the seam with a seam ripper and sew a more shallow seam.

This method of sewing a mattress cover will work for all sorts of mattresses, not just the Halo BassiNest.

Have you made a DIY Bassinet Mattress Cover?

Leave a comment below! We’d love to hear about it.

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Stay awhile…

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Here is a fun and cute craft to make with food: Rice Krispies Nests

As Always, thanks for visiting!

-Julie