Almost there, so let’s jump right in, ok?

• Cut to the last stitch of the mattress seam. Fold in & press the seam allowance (1 cm or 3/8”) to the inside of the bumper and the bottom of the mattress.

• Leave the bumper open for now. Close the mattress by sewing an edge stitching or sew by hand for a neater finish. (You can also finish by covering the mattress opening with bias tape, see photo below right).

• If you want to quilt the mattress of your baby nest, now would be a good time. Only quilt inside the curved mattress seam, don’t quilt the bumper.

• Take your piece of drawstring/cord and pull it through the bias tape channel on the bumper, using a bodkin or a small safety pin.
• Roll the batting/wadding into a long sausage and pull it through the baby nest bumper. For a fuller bumper, add some stuffing/fiber fill into the sausage before rolling, (it’s a bit like making a Swiss roll cake).
  I also like to sew about 5 stitches along the closing of the batting bumper, to keep it together. One at each end, one in the middle and one in between the middle and end. Don’t bother with knots, just sew through the batting 3 times or so (a bit like making tailor tacks).


• Now you can pin & close the bumper. Sew an edge stitching, on the machine or by hand, same as you did to close the mattress. Make sure you keep the drawstring out of the way!


Your Scandi Baby Nest, should look something like this :)


• The only thing left to do is pull the drawstring/cord to gather the bumper and shape the nest. Tie together or use a cord lock/stopper. Add a baby and you’re finished!!!

I’d love to see your finished Scandi Baby Nest, if you feel like sharing! Leave me a comment or if you’re on Instagram use #scandibabynest or tag me @jaggedrose :)
If you missed the first part of the Sew-along you can find it here.

It’s time for us to start sewing, Yay!

• Put your 2 baby nest body pieces on top of each other, with right sides together. Pin and sew a seam along the outer edge only.
  Then press that seam open and turn right side out.

• Sew on the bias tape on the right side of the fabric, over the seam you just pressed, starting and finishing about 2.5 cm (1”) from the leg (bumper) edge.
  Fold in the ends about 2 cm (3/4”) and sew a stitch on both sides of the bias tape to create a channel.



Bonus Sew-along Tip!
Optional – Make a little pocket to hold your drawstring cord.

• Use your test square if you still have it or cut out a 10 x 10 cm (4″ x 4″) square in your fabric. Fold in 1.25 cm (½”), press and fold the same amount again and press. This is the “top” of your pocket, then fold in and press 1 cm (3/8″) on the remaining 3 sides.
• Pin your pocket to the leg (bumper) on the “bottom” side of your baby nest, with the “top” of the pocket on it’s side. (See right photo below).
  This way it will be on the outside of your bumper when your nest is complete.
• Sew along the edge around 3 of the sides, leaving the “top” open and you have a cute little pocket for your drawstring!

• Put your nest to the side for now and take your 3 pieces of mattress batting/wadding.
  Lay the 3 layers of batting/wadding on top of each other and baste together all around, along the outer edge. This is the mattress for your baby nest.

• Lay your baby nest flat and pin together both body layers, following the dashed line (outer line) that you have marked on your fabric. By doing this we are making a pocket for the mattress to go in.

• Put the mattress inside the baby nest. Pin together through all of the layers (baby nest body and mattress) following the dotted line (inner line). Sew through all of the layers from the bottom edge of your nest to the other bottom edge. (See right photo below).

We’re almost there, just a few more steps. Come back next week for the final part of the Scandi Baby Nest Sew-along! :)

First things first, Sorry for the bad quality of some of the photos, the only weather we’ve had here for the past few weeks is grey clouds and dullness.
Secondly, before we start on our baby nests, have you washed your fabric? If not, do that!
What we need today is: your Scandi Baby Nest pattern (cut out and ready to use), your pre-washed fabric, batting/wadding, pins, a pair of scissors and the marking tool of your choice.

OK, let’s get started, pinning and cutting!

• If you are making your nest in two different fabrics or if you want to have a certain print layout for the “top” of your nest, you will probably want to cut out the “bottom” first. As the pattern pieces are only half the width of the actual nest, we need to cut on the fold. Then we need to unpin and re-use the pattern for the next piece, but we also need to add the marking lines onto our fabric.
  You only need to mark your “top” fabric and it’s easiest if the pattern is still pinned on (depending on your choice of marking of course).
• Fold your fabric, check your pattern will fit and pin in place. You can see in the photo below, I’m following the crosswise grain instead of lengthwise, because that’s what worked best with the amount of fabric I had. Cut out your “bottom” fabric and repeat on your “top” fabric.



• Now we need to mark the lines, I think the best way is to mark the lines on the wrong side of the fabric, using dressmaker’s carbon and a tracing wheel. I don’t like marking the right side of my fabric with pens or chalk, in case the markings don’t go away, usually I just mark my lines with pins.

• See now we have lines on the wrong side of the fabric, but we want to see them on the front. You can do this however you like, I like to pin along my lines, you could baste along the lines or use tailor tacks to mark.
  By the way, I don’t have giant pins, this is my my doll sized baby nest ;)


• All right, you should now have two nest looking fabric pieces, something like this. Now we can cut out the batting, you need the Mattress pattern piece and we are going to cut 3 of these. And like before, we have to fold our batting, because the pattern is only half the width of the actual mattress. Check the layout suggestion for batting in your pattern, I always cut out the mattress pieces first.

• After you’ve cut out the 3 mattress pieces in your batting, just place them on top of each other and we’ll come back to them later. Next we need to cut out the bumper, you measurements are in the pattern. I folded my batting in half because it was already 220 cm wide and just measured and cut until I had a nice long rectangle.

All the prep work is done, you have all your fabric and batting pieces, with all your markings. Next time, we’ll start sewing! :)