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How to make a baby gate with fabric

Our little girl is growing and sis atrting to move it by herself, she is curious and like to move around in her baby walker. That means that we had to restrain some areas. As all the down floor is an open living space I wanted to find a simple solution to close the access to the stairs and to the entrance. A fabric baby gate was a perfect and quick solution. I want to clarify that this kind of baby gate works great to close the access to an area, like the kitchen as example, it will NOT WORK FOR STAIRS. I feel that the fabric is not sturdy enough to prevent the baby from slipping under it and ends up on the stairs. So please don’t use it in your stairs, even it’s you have just a few steps. 😉 

Materials and tools you will need to build a fabric baby gate:

  • Wooden dowel
  • 2 plastic caps that fits the dowel
  • 2 screws and 2 washers
  • 2 screws hooks
  • fabric
  • elastic ribbon
  • a sewing machine
  • a cutter
  • a drill
  • a handsaw

Take one of the plastic caps, and with the cutter, cut out 1/3 of the cap side. Watch your fingers.

The caps will hold the wooden dowel. So you need to screw one on each side on the opening you want to close with the baby gate. I placed my baby gate at 26 inches (65cm) high…but I think it would have work better a little lower. Screw the cap on the wall and place a washer between the screw and the cap to prevent the plastic from breaking.

Screw the second caps in front of the first one, be sure both are at the same high.

Cut the dowel to fit into the caps. You need to first slide the dowel in the complete caps and then you can smoothly push the dowel into the cut cap.

Let start sewing the fabric. Take the dimension of the opening width and the distance between the dowel and the floor. Add 5 inches (10cm) to the floor-dowel distance and you have the dimension to cut the fabric.

I give you my measurements as example: opening distance 66 inches (170 cm) and distance floor dowel 26 inches (65 cm), the fabric piece measure 66 inches  by 31 inches (26+5 inches). In centimeter the fabric measure 170 cm x 75 cm (65+10cm).

To prevent the fabric from fraying, make a fold of 1/2 inch on the edges, pin and sew. To be able to slide the dowel into the fabric, you need to make a fold of 2 1/2 inches with the fabric top. Pin and sew along the fabric edge.

The fabric bottom will be hold by two screw hooks. Sew an elastic loops at each bottom corner of the fabric.

Once you are done sewing, pass the dowel through the fabric and put it in place into the caps. Extend the fabric and make a mark on the wall at the height of the lower corners of the fabric. Drill and screw the hooks on the wall. Pass the elastic loops on the hooks and done! The fabric need to be tight for the baby gate to be functional.

Hello everyone! Ups…some walls need a fresh coat of paint!

I’m working on a sturdy wood baby gate for upstairs, I will share it soon. So stay tuned!

Amaryllis

Don’t forget to Pin it for later!

Amaryllis

Gregg Martin

Wednesday 15th of May 2019

Thanks for providing information. every piece of this article is very helpful. As a parent I will remember these instruction

Mamyca

Wednesday 2nd of May 2018

Il n'y a plus qu'à demander à Emmy de faire un joli dessin sur la toile !

amaryllis

Thursday 3rd of May 2018

Ben je préfère qu'elle continue a dessiner sur des feuilles...:)

Deniel

Thursday 26th of April 2018

Hi, I just drop by your post and see a lot of cute DIY. Just one thing as far as I still remember that the baby walker is not a good thing for kids as it can cause some developmental delays. (you can check more on wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_walker) Wish you all the best,