Instead of a Bedside Table

We have B’s crib in a corner, with one side detached and our bed pushed up right beside it. This makes it possible for me to comfort and sooth, or just check on him, without having to get out of bed at night – very comfortable. It does however prevent me from having a bedside table. Up till now, when he’s been pretty much immobile, and been sleeping in a sort of improvised baby nest within the crib, I’ve been able to put my glasses and other little things in the crib without him being able to get to them, but that won’t be possible to do safely for much longer. Beside, I’d grown tired of the clutter surrounding my baby. To solve this problem, before it became acute, I made a hanging pocket storage to put on the outside of the crib.

The material in the base is a self fabric lined piece of simple cotton sheeting; the pockets are made from old shirts (charity shop finds that I’ve bought because I liked the fabrics), lined with the same sheeting. The middle pocket still has the breast pocket left, so there are actually four pockets. I thought it was a cute detail (not that it shows in the pictures).

I made running stitches in red round the edge, and sewed buttons to the corners for decoration, blue ones by the blue pocket, and green ones by the green. The ties are made from the same fabric as the middle pocket, and, tied together, rest on the bottom of the bed right now, under the mattress. When B is beginning to start crawling we’ll have to lower the crib bottom and put the side back on; the ties of the pockets can then be tied to the rail instead. I’m sure it’ll look prettier when they’re not hanging so low as they are now.

The plan is that he’ll be able to use the pocket storage himself when he's a bit older and I no longer have a need for them, so I tried to make them appealing to a child, while only using materials I had at home. Not sure how well I succeeded there, but I think them rather nice.

So now he has a safe sleeping place when he starts moving around, and I don’t have to have my things in the other side of the room. And it looks nice. Win - win.