by Jessi Wohlwend
Babies can be really light sleepers, and the worst thing in the world for new parents who just got their baby to go to sleep, is to have them wake back up as soon as the nursery door closes! Luckily, door latch covers are super easy to make, and they allow you to close the nursery door without waking your baby!
Yep, there’s a little dinosaur on that door latch cover! Just slip the elastics over each doorknob and the door will shut silently! And it’s thin enough that the door does still shut, the latch just won’t click. These are also great for when the kid is a little older, to prevent them from pushing a door shut and locking themselves in a room if they’re still too small to turn the doorknob!
DIY Nursery Door Latch Cover
These only take a few minutes to put together, and only require a few materials:
- fun printed cotton
- 2 hair elastics
- sewing machine and basic supplies (scissors, pins, thread, etc.)
Start by cutting two 3″ x 4″ rectangles out of your cotton fabric. (I made two latch covers, so I cut four rectangles.)
Set one rectangle on your table, printed side up. Place one elastic on top of the rectangle so that a bit of it hangs off the short left side of the fabric, and place the other elastic similarly on the right side. Place the other rectangle on top of the elastics, printed side down.
Pin the fabric and elastics well, and sew all the way around all four edges with 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving a 2″ hole for turning in one of the long edges. Go back and forth a few times over the elastic to make sure it is secure!
Clip the corners and turn the latch cover right side out. Top stitch all the way around with 1/8″ seam allowance in order to close the turning hole. And you’re done! Your elastics should be sticking out of either short edge.
Cute dino, right?! If you pay attention when cutting your original rectangles of fabric, you can choose which parts of the fabric show in your final latch cover.
Just slip the elastic over a doorknob, wrap the cover around the edge of the door, and hook the other elastic over the doorknob on the other side.
Now your doors won’t wake the baby once they finally get to sleep!
What are your favorite baby shower gifts to give? If you’ve had a baby shower, what were your favorite gifts to receive?
Melissa says
Hi I think this is adorable however I’m having a little issue where it isn’t strong enough to keep the latch in. I followed the pattern and was using flannel fabric I had left over from some other projects. Ideas. It looks super cute but it still allows the door latch to close.
Jessi Wohlwend says
Hmm, weird! Did you put a fusible interfacing on the back of the fabric? That can help stiffen the fabric a bit. Mine doesn’t keep the latch completely open all the way like turning the knob would, but it keeps it open enough that the door can just be pulled open and closed without having to turn the knob at all.
Demetria says
I love this idea for keeping little ones from locking themselves in rooms. I never had a problem with noise with my kids. I would always have music on at a decent level when I put my kids down for naps so I didn’t have to worry bout being quiet or loud noises waking them. That idea totally saved my sanity & I was able to get a lot done or take a good nap myself, lol. I am totally doing this for my friend who has a baby though!
Sue says
This quickie shower gift is so much nicer than gooing up the door with duct tape!! The gift is sure to raise eyebrows as everyone wonders what is is, and “Why would anyone give such a thing?” But I predict it will become, hands down, the new parents’ favorite baby item!! I think the parents should have one for their room, too, at least until the baby turn into a toddler!!
Melissa says
That should be allows above…oops!
Melissa says
My daughter in law is pregnant with our first grandchild, I think this is brillant! I absolutely think it’s okay to close the nursery door. Now days parents have monitors to see and hear the baby’s every move and being able to close the door always the parents to ensure the slightest noise doesn’t wake the baby and gives them an extra moment downtime.
Roxy says
Hi Jessi,
Thanks for the great idea! I’ll be making some of these for a baby shower & a family member! Love the idea, would have come in handy when my kids were tiny! :p
annalena says
I would never close the door to the nursery when the baby sleeps. What do you think? You would never hear if the child vomited for example.
Jessi Wohlwend says
I think it’s totally up to each individual parent. We don’t have kids yet but I am pregnant, and I plan to keep the nursery door closed because we have two cats and a puppy and I don’t want them in the nursery bothering the baby. But we also plan to have a video monitor in the nursery, so I feel pretty comfortable that I’ll be able to keep an eye on the baby, even with the door closed.
barbara says
Great idea! Will make for our twin grand kids. Will also make for my mother in law in the early stages of dementia to keep her from locking the door to bathroom and not able to get out of the room!
Beth says
Love these. I want to use then on my interior doors to keep my 2 year old twin grandsons from shutting and locking the doors. I’ve had one lock himself in the family room already. They also want to shut the door to their room when they are playing and these would keep them from accidently locking themselves in or me out! 😉
Sue says
These look great! Two questions- do you sew right over the hair elastic when you are doing the edges? Also, what do you mean by “clip” the corners? I’m a sewing/craft novice. Thanks!
Jessi Wohlwend says
Yep Sue, sew right over the hair elastic as you sew around the edges, that will help hold it in place. You can actually go backwards and forwards one or two times right over the hair tie itself to really hold it in place as you do the edges. And clip the corners just means cut the fabric at a 45 degree angle. So after you finish sewing, you still have a rectangle of fabric, and all four corners are 90 degree angles. But when you turn that rectangle inside out, the fabric point of the corners is going to bunch up and once the piece is right side out, the corners won’t lay flat. So before you turn it inside out, take your scissors and cut off just the tip of the point of fabric at the corners, at a 45 degree angle to the corner. That way when you turn the fabric right side out, there isn’t all this extra fabric bunching up in your corners! This article has some pictures that might help explain it! http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/08/sewing-tips-clipping-corners-and-curves.html
Bell says
We use these at our school so the latch can stay in the locked position at all times but kids can come and go for the bathroom, resource teacher etc without getting locked out. In case of an emergency (intruder) it’s easy to slide the fabric down and the door is instantly locked.
Jessi Wohlwend says
Really smart, I love that idea!
Jody says
Love this door latch cover. Plan to make as part of baby gift paks and for my doughter and daughter in law. Sticking doors at nap time AND toddler locking self in bathrooms ring the need now list for both families
Marty says
Made several of these cute latch covers. Thanks fora neat idea to send with a welcome baby card.
Marty
helene says
merci pour cette belle idée
Betsy @ Romance on a Dime says
Such a brillant idea and so cute!! Pinning this. Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!!
Alice (@mumsmakelists) says
What a fab idea Jessi – have pinned it!
Darlene says
I agree with Angela – smart and cute.
http://www.mylittleshopoftreasures.blogspot.ca
http://www.darlenebnemeth.blogspot.ca
Ginger says
Hey! I found you via Domestic Superhero and I just had to pop over here and comment because I seriously love this idea! I’ve never seen it before and think it’s total genius. I only wish I had seen this idea 4 years ago.
If you’re interested, I’d love if you shared this at my Show & Tell link party today. http://www.gingerlymade.com/2013/06/show-tell-32.html
Ginger says
Thanks for linking up to Gingerly Made’s Show & Tell party last week. You’ve been featured!
http://www.gingerlymade.com/2013/07/show-tell-features.html
Allyson says
This is great! I’ll be featuring it in a bit on my Thursday link up!
Bethany says
Great idea! This never even occurred to me when my son was a newborn, I will definitely need this for our next one!
Ann says
Thanks for linking up to our party Jessi…this is so cute!
Jocie@OPC The Better Half says
what a genius idea! love it!!
Crystal says
Genius!! I don’t have little ones any more, but I sure could have used this!! What an awesome idea!! Pinning it to share with others!!
Katie says
I recognize those guys! 😉
They work great too, except it turns out that a dog barging into a room that’s not latched shut wakes up a baby more than shutting the door in the first place does. Oops.
I think that’s a great idea to keep them from locking themselves in the bathroom or something, though, so I think I will repurpose them for that once he starts crawling–which is going to be soon!
Jessi Wohlwend says
Oh lol! Yeah I guess if the door isn’t totally latched you run the risk of rambunctious dogs barging right in; I can totally see that happening! 🙂 Can’t believe he’s going to be crawling soon!!!
Angela says
So smart and cute! I never would have thought of this and it’s so useful.
Jacque says
You are so sweet did you make these for me??? hehe jk I love these!
Gwen says
That is super brilliant, Jessi! I totally could have used a few of those when the boys were little!
Susan says
Brilliant, Jessi, brilliant!