Monday, January 30, 2012

Car Seat Cover {Tutorial}

Okay. Here's the deal. I have no idea if this baby is a boy or a girl. It's killing me! But I know in the end it will be a fun surprise and adventure to have waited. However, it is making preparing for the baby a little tough. For example, I've been wanting to make a car seat cover (a.k.a. tent or canopy) for the baby but I wasn't thrilled with the idea of making a generic one. So what do I do? I make twice as much work for myself by deciding to make two! A boy and a girl. Why do I do this to myself?! I don't know. I've only made the boy one so far but it was fairly easy and I'm happy with how it turned out. I think it's worth sharing this little tutorial.
What you will need:
1 yd fabric
1 yd coordinating fabric
thread
scissors
ruler
buttons (optional)

 1. The goal is to end up with a rectangle approximately 30"x40". MEASURE YOUR CAR SEAT FIRST. Make sure this size will work for your seat and adjust it if necessary. You need a strip cut off of one side at least 2 1/2" wide for the straps so plan accordingly. I also placed my fabric one on top of the other and then cut my strips off to make my rectangle. You can do them one at a time if you like.

 2. Once I had my rectangle I used this hoop as a guide to cut my corners to be rounded. You can free hand it if you want but I wanted mine exact.
 3. You should have something like this: A big rectangle with rounded corners.
4. With both of your pieces right side together sew a straight stitch around the edges leaving an opening to turn the fabric right side out!!
 5. Turn your fabric right side out. Iron the edges flat. Sew a straight stitch around the edges being sure to catch the opening you left. As a side note, for some reason I made my stitches really wide, but a 1/4" stitch would probably be great.
 6. For your straps: cut two pieces of each fabric approximately 2 1/2" x 8". I wish I had made mine wider, but only because I like that look. You can make them whatever width you like. Also, be sure to measure your car seat handles to see if 8" is long enough, or maybe too long, and adjust accordingly.
7. Place one strip of each fabric right sides together. Sew a straight stitch along 3 sides. Turn right side out and iron the edges flat. Sew a straight stitch along the side you left open. You can sew along all four edges if you want but I chose not to.
 8. Sew your velcro on by putting the rough side on one piece of fabric and the smooth side on the opposite end on the other fabric. (see picture, I know I didn't explain that very well.)
 9. Measure your car seat handle to determine where you want to sew your handles on. Mine were about 10" apart. Also, they were not in the center length wise. I needed more length towards the front of my car seat than the back so be sure to keep all of that in mind.
10. Finally, you can add detail to the straps by sewing on buttons or ribbons if you want to dress it up a bit. And then you are done! I did this whole project in a couple of evenings. Probably less than 4 hours.
 It would totally be possible to make this reversible simple by sewing straps onto both sides but I wasn't ambitious enough to try that. Maybe with the girl version!

I guess if I end up having a girl the next person I know to have a boy can pretty much assume this cover will be their gift. :)

5 comments:

Amy said...

If you have a girl I'll take this one! IT'S SO CUTE! I love the fabric choices!

Tiffany said...

Super cute!

Another way to make it reversible would be to just create 4 large button holes to thread the straps through. That way it's just a little extra sewing, but no extra straps getting in the way.

Sally said...

So cute! I love the buttons that you chose and I really like Tiffany's idea about the button holes for the straps so it can be reversible.

Dee dee said...

Very cute!! You girls just amaze me!

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