Help!!! How to sew box corners!
 

I hope I can describe this problem right...my sister and I are sewing an isolette cover for the NICU Flight Unit made out of PUL fabric. So, we've got the measurements and my sister pinned it using the actual isolette. The question is: when sewing the seams, how do I stitch the corners when the side piece corners are to be left open for access????? We know what the corner should look like because we've pinned it but when actually stitching the seams, we are very confused! LOL The cover is just like an upside box (without a lid of course) with the corners not stitched. I know there is a simple method but for the life of us, we can't figure it out. We've both been sewing most of our lives!

I know this is a geometry problem which we cannot solve!! Help!!!!!!

Not sure if I understand ... but wondering if it might be like the crate covers I've made for my wire dog crates. The crate covers are basically a top piece that fits over the top of the crate and 4 "curtains" that hang on all four sides. On mine, the back and two sides are seamed together but the front curtain is not sewn to the side seams so it can be lifted to allow the dog to get in and out through the door.

Is this what your talking about?

Edited to add ....

I looked up images for isolette covers and I think what you are looking for is similar to the crate covers I used to make. But even better than me explaining .... I found this that might help!!

http://quilttallahassee.com/activiti...olette-covers/

You want to sew the corners but at the same time, leave the corners unstitched??? Or do you want the sides unstitched, below the corners?

Could you baste the seam, press open, stitch the corner, then take out the basting of the part to be left open?

Please check with the hospital, before using PUL for this.

Nanamoms,
Do you ever miter borders on your quilts? If you do, it helps for *these* corners to know that the angle is stitched in the opposite direction....let me see if I can do a graphic.....

The blue line indicates the angle of your sewing the border for your boxed corners.

Jan in VA

Yes, that is exactly what I'm talking about. Except 2 nurses attend the baby during transport and work from each side so all four corners need to be open. We'll use straps with velcro to hold them closed until needed.

Jan, thanks for diagram. I'm a visual person so this really helps! I think I'll do a sample strip and try this method.

Neesie, we need to stitch the seams at the "top" of the corner but leave the actual sides unstitched. We kinda did a basting stitch at the corners until we could figure out the seams. It actually made boxed corners but we have an extra "seam" that we don't know how to stitch it to the horizontal seams. All the vertical seams need to be left open. We will do some kind of tiny hem, like a rolled hem or napkin hem to finish off the open edges.

The isolette cover will only be used during transport. The helicopter lands on the landing pad and they have to roll the isolette from inside the hospital to the outside and into the helo. It needs to be waterproof. It needs to be lightweight and we are limited to what colors we can use because color affects the skin tone of the babies and makes it harder to watch for symptoms. I've read the description of PUL and it is used in hospitals a good bit. I will have my sister double check but she has shown the fabric to her supervising nurse.

We've already had a request from another hospital to do one for them!!

Special Note: My sister got a call on her day off that 15 NICU babies were going to have to be moved to other hospitals because the NICU unit was "stocked full" of babies. She works at a University (teaching) hospital so they get a lot of the NICU and other sick Peds babies!! Sad thing is that a lot of these babies are born to teenage mothers and mothers who used illegal drugs or alcohol!!

Now I understand what you were looking for!

I actually made a bird cage over like this for my DD;s little Budgie, Azure. The cover was quilted, of course, in blues and aquas to match his name, a hole in the top for the carrying handle, the flap on front and back, and some beads and a couple of his molted feathers attached to the front.

What a great idea you are making.:)

Jan in VA

I would take 2 rectangles & hem them. Then lay them across each other forming a cross & top stitch the two together. Then add your ties OR stitch the ties onto the rectangles & include them into the hem before stitching it. Clear as mud?

Okay, I think I understand now. Thimblebug600's solution sounds perfect . . . and the easiest, so far. That way, you don't have to form the corners, at all; they create themselves. :thumbup: If you don't want to double the top, you can have one long piece for front and back, then add the two side pieces.