Thursday, August 7, 2014

DIY Quilt Baby Gate


So this week we discovered water coming up from the floor in the hallway! no worries the land lord will take care of it but the hallway is going to be definitely off limits to minions!
So I scoured the Internet (more accurately pintrest) for DIY fabric baby gates! go ahead and do it! there's a lot of boards with fabric on them wedged between the bottom poles of stairs.
What I found on Pintrest with "DIY Fabric baby gates"
But I'm not trying to block off stairs I'm trying to put a gate in a funky spot. and since fabric is more flexible and creative (and I have a Ton of it) I wanted something that could fit! then I found this!
Found by my mother Just what I was looking for!
Basically: a quilt with a huge border,  eylets and I think there is a stick or dowel sewn into the sides to hold the shape, and I guess by their colors they are hair bands looped onto wall D-hooks. that's the basics!
But the Pinner broke a Pintrest commandment (#5). She didn't post the blog that showed you how to do it. and I couldn't find it either... ~pouty face~ But! I'm creative and I figured out pretty quick what I was going to do.


In case you didn't know them!

Ok, Rant over? so here is the funky spot that needs the gate. See how I can't just use a regular gate? so a fabric gate has to be the only way to do it. now I was going to be lame and just screw fabric to the wall but then mom showed me the Image above and I decided to help out the other pintresters who are out there with funky corners in their homes and create the how to! So here it goes!


"This is the place"
What you'll need:
Patience - it's a huge part of sewing. If you are frustrated or impatient when you sew you are going to find yourself even more so. The machines know! O.o
A Quilt at least 24" tall
An Electric drill and drill bits
Hook and Eye door lock
PVC Piping 1" thick and an inch shorter than your overall height of the quilt
Pencil & Eraser
Leveler
and remember the #1 Crafting rule: Measure twice, cut once. 

First I measured across the spot where I wanted the gate to be so I knew how big of a quilt I would need.
now the bit about patience isn't a joke. It makes a world of difference if I have defused my day with a nice shower yummy meal and a smile. 
I made my design 24x36 and put a 2"boarder all around. so my quilt turned out to be 28x40. I'm not walking you through how to make the quilt cause that's your bit of creativity to have! so we are going to start after the completion of or purchase of said quilt. 

looks kind of like my blankie from when I was a kid ^_^
in case you were wondering what a hook and eye latch is
Then I moved on to the PVC piping. Now I chose PVC instead of a dowel because I have to screw the hook in by hand and I've done that into a dowel before and its really hard! I'm a weakling so I'm using PVC Piping. I chose the drill bit size based on the screws for the hook and eye. not sure you can tell but one drill bit is slightly smaller than the other one. 
5/32" was just right to keep the screws stable
whether I put it in the wall or the Piping.
3/16" was the right size to match the core but
too big if I wanted it sturdy

then I drilled into the sides of the pipe . there is a printed text on the side of PVC piping so I used that as my guide so that I didn't have perpendicular holes. Drill within an inch of the Edge of the pipe

I think i did this one a bit close to my edge but it should still work.

Slip the pipe on the sides of the quilt. when I made mine I had to seal the "top"corners to keep the pole from popping out on top. If you bought a quilt, pick the stitching out. don't worry about it fraying just keep them tucked in it should be fine. 
sewing the edge shut so the pipe doesn't slip out
IT FITS!!!!

 It doesn't really matter which piece you screw into the pipe. I chose the hook end so I didn't have 4 hooks jangling on the wall and attracting little hands when the gate is put away. Screw the latch through the fabric.

Get a hand to help you figure out where you are going to put the eyes to latch to. don't for get to drill a pilot hole. Use the same size bit you used for the piping.


Erase your lines (cause you have your pilot hole, Right?) then screw the eye all the way in. 


Now hook up and enjoy!!!


I did it too high the first time and she crawled under neath the gate. so I put the "eyes" starting at the floor boards and then she couldn't get under it. ^_^ priceless!

It only cost me $7 for the set of hook and eye latches and the PVC piping at the hardware store. 

It was a lot of fun to make and it only took me an hour as the windmill pattern was already put together when I found it in my sewing box!

Good luck with your gate! and tell me how yours went!



2 comments:

  1. Gee, what a great quilt pattern! Lol! Looks good - success!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ^_^ i would have done something else if i hadn't seen it!! ^_^

    ReplyDelete