The Remaking of a Cradle

As I previously reported on this here blog, my mom reupholstered the inside of a cradle made by her father. It was originally upholstered by her mother and given to my parents for me to use when I was born.

I want to use the cradle for Baby S, and the upholstery had seen better days, so my sweet Mama set out to re-do it. Here are some photos of her work. I tried to do this post a week or so ago but I couldn't narrate the photos without her help. Now she is down at my house, helping me through this last week, keeping me resting, and helping me prepare for baby. So, I asked for her help in narrating this post for you!

In the photo above, she used the old upholstery, which had the diamond pattern on it, to measure out the new fabric.

Following are some photos of the fabric measuring and cutting:

Clearly, here we have the four new fabric pieces.


Then she lined the empty cradle with the new padding for the sides.



Then, she glued that padding in place.


She laid the cradle on its side to start the fabric installation process.

Incidentally, the fabric is called, "baby dry." Catchy, no?

Then she cut a length of tack strip to be just a bit longer than each side of the cradle.

The tack strip goes on the wrong side of the fabric, so the fabric then folds around it to make a crisp edge that can be stapled without tearing the fabric.

Preparing to put the fabric in place.

And before the fabric was put in place, she added another layer of quilt batting to the sides.

You can see the tack strip, ready to be stapled.




Stapling fabric through tack strip to the side of the cradle.


So then, she staple the bottom of the fabric to the
bottom of the cradle so it wouldn't ride up.




And voila! Newly upholstered.

The mattress is four inch foam, cut with an electric knife to size and upholstered snugly in the same "baby dry" fabric. The new mattress fits tightly in the bottom of the cradle.

It is so incredibly well done. Baby S will sleep soundly from birth, I am sure, because of the comfort of his bed. Thanks Mom, for taking the time to prepare the cradle for our use! And, thanks for being here this week to help me make it through. I couldn't do it without you!

See you soon.