Monday, March 8, 2010

Car Seat Cover

Okay, time for another tutorial. Have you seen those really cute car seat blanket/tent/canopy/whatever you want to call them? I know I have, now I don't have a little one in a baby car seat right now but I have plenty of friends with baby showers coming up. So i googled and searched and I think I pretty much every tutorial there was for these things. I took all the best of those tutorials and combined them into one that I liked best. At the end I will tell you what I would change for the next time around.


Materials"
2 yards coordinating fabric
Sew-on or Iron-on Velcro
Wonder Under
Other coordinating fabrics
Thread
Sewing Machine
Iron

Okay here we go... I wanted to put an applique on the front of my cover, if you don't skip these steps. I cut out flowers on my cricut... To cut Wonder Under on the cricut place the paper upside down on your mat to cut (this will only work with shapes- letters will be backwards if you do this).

Iron on your flowers, etc. Put your ribbon under the flowers. Then stitch around your flowers and ribbon stems.


Cut your fabric- I cut mine to 36" by 40". I really didn't want the cover to drag on the floor once it was finished. That being said I'm not sure all car seats are the same size so lay your fabric on top of yours and see where you're at size wise. I cut them at the same time so they would line up. Save your scraps- these will be our straps.


If you want your corners rounded, put a bowl down on the edge and cut around.


Then put both right sides together and stitch around the edges, leaving a small opening to use when you turn your fabric right side out. Turn your fabric right side out and then iron all your edges. Iron the space you left open to match your other edges, then top stitch around the entire cover.


Remember your scraps we saved, now its time to use the. Cut four 4" by 7" pieces- these will be your straps. I really need to recover my ironing board the cover is hideous- hilarious but gross.
Lay your pieces right sides together and then stitch around the edges once again leaving a space to turn them right side out. After that's done, I trimmed a little of the corners off to make smoother corners. Then turn them right side out and iron them flat then top stitch.
Then sew on your Velcro.
Then lay out your cover and decide where to put your straps. I fold my blanket in half then in half again to see where the middle of my blanket was then space from there. Then just stitch the straps two or three times on the machine and your all done. Now clip your loose threads and enjoy!

UPDATE: A few answers to some questions: Sewing around the flowers takes more patience than practice- although I have done a lot of applique in the past year. Just take it nice and slow and you will be just fine. The plus about this kind of applique is that if you wash the cover or just use it the flowers will fray a little covering up any mistakes you have made.

My friend I gave the cover to, has a wider car seat handle than the one I have, so you may want to add a couple of inches to the straps.

You can make your cover reversible by making an extra set of straps and repeating the process on the other side.

I'm linking to:

Keeping It Simple, DIY Showoff, Twice Remembered, Making the World Cuter, The Girl Creative, Skip to My Lou, Persimmon Perch, Tip Junkie, Somewhat Simple, Life as Lori Bloggeritaville

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a great idea!! My sister will love this! I just learned how to thread my sewing machine with the help of my sister.. does it take practice to stitch around the flowers?

Anonymous said...

Way too cute!

Joyelle said...

loving this!! what a great idea heather!! thank you so much for sharing your expertise with all of us!! yaaay!!! :)

Kaysi @ Keeping it Simple said...

I love your little flowers on the bottom!

CourtneyKeb said...

So cute and fun!!

Alexandria said...

This is so cute. Thanks so much for sharing it! I just wish it was a couple of months earlier so that I could have made one for my little baby bug this past winter. But, like you, I know plenty of people who will be having babies, so I'm sure I can think of someone to give it to!

Melissa said...

I love the fabric! SO cute. I can't wait to have a baby so that I can make one. I love the little flowers.

Leslie said...

What a great idea! My little ones are past the car seat tent stage, but I am keeping this in mind for baby gifts!

Leslie
oursoftspottoland.blogspot.com

Bonnie @ House of Grace said...

Great job!!! So creative! I am your newest follower!
Bonnie
http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/

Lori said...

This cover is just great. I wish I would have thought about doing something like this when my daughter eas younger.

Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thurs. Please come by next week for another great party.
Lori

Hoosier Homemade said...

This is great! Makes me want another baby!
I'm visiting from Tip Junkie!
~Liz

ificould said...

I can't wait to make this!! I put a link on my blog: http://ificould-ificould.blogspot.com/2010/04/car-seat-cover.html

Thanks for the great tute!!
Missy

Miss Mike said...

I'm making my 3rd carrier cover right now. They are great shower gifts and the new mommy's love them.

Thanks so much for your easy and clear directions. Btw...love your blog

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails