Car Seat Canopy Cover

Baby items can be costly. If you opt out of purchasing some items and make them yourself you can save yourself a nice little bundle of cash.

I completed my beautiful car seat cover today. Before pinterest entered my life, I somehow managed to raise three babies. But now that I have pinterest, there is no going back. Enter the canopy car seat cover.

I followed the website instructions below with a few exceptions which I will list below.


http://www.sewdangcutecrafts.com/2011/03/guest-blogger-peek-boo-car-seat-canopy.html

I decided, because I am cheap, not to make a window opening, because I wanted to use my left over fox fabric for something else, instead of just buying more fox fabric. So there is no window.

Also because I am cheap, I did not make the straps the same size as the instructions. I used the leftover strips of my fox fabric to make the straps.

If you follow the directions for making the straps to attach to the handle of the carseat, they will tell you to sew the tube and leave the short end open to turn it out. I decided it was easier to leave a portion of the long side open in the middle and turn the ends out through the middle. It was much easier to close the straight line on the side then to make two corners look clean trying to close it on the narrow end. It also made it easier to turn it right side out.

For the straps I decided to use snaps that I already had purchased and in my craft stash instead of using Velcro. This also lowered my amount of sewing as you just hammer these snaps on.

Measurements for the straps" Find the center of the strap. Line the middle of the strap up with 16.5" down from the top of the cover and 12" in from the side (to the outside edge of the strap).

Chevron Baby Quilt

 

A while back I made this quilt. It features a chevron pattern made of rectangles instead of triangles. Here is the link to the amazing quilter's website that features the full step by step instructions. I have never made a quilt this way until I met her, and now I will never be able to make a quilt without using her knowledge again. So many "why didn't I think of that" moments when I was reading and following her tutorial. I hope you gain as much from her, even if you don't make the quilt, as I did.

 

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/how-to-make-zig-zag-quilt-without_30.html

 

Note: Her tutorial calls for baste, quilt, bind and wash. I chose a different backing since its for a baby. I picked a really soft, cushy fabric for my backing, sewing the back and top together with right sides then flipping it inside out and hand stitching the opening closed. I would have top stitched, and tried to, but the cushy fabric proved too much for my current settings on my sewing machine, and I am not advanced enough to figure out the solution. So I settled for hand stitching the opening closed.

 

 

For the record: This fabric is so soft and I love it, but I will probably never work with it again, unless I can find a tutorial that helps explain how to correctly and efficiently handle this bulky fabric. 

 

 

 



New Fabric!!

My package arrived today! I am so excited! Living in rural Minnesota there are not a lot of choices for fabric. Okay, to be honest there is no place to shop in person for fabric. There is a drug store about 15 miles away that sells fabric, but it focuses mainly on the tastes of its older consumer base. In other words, no modern fabric.

So what do you do? You shop online. Here is a list of places that I have found that sell beautiful fabric, modern prints, and wide varieties. It will be hard not to buy it all.

http://www.fabricworm.com/ This place is great. Be careful with the pricing though. The price is per HALF yard not for a full yard. You also order by the HALF yard. They are very clear with this during checkout and shopping.

 Here are some of my favorites from fabricworm.com. (I tried to keep my choices at a minimum, but hey, I really do love them all)

Another Favorite site is hawthornethreads.com They also have a great selection and at really great prices. Here are some samples from their website:

 Now to begin my next project! Check back soon!

Herringbone Baby Quilt

 

This is a tutorial to help you make your own Herringbone Baby Quilt. You could also use this pattern and instructions to make a larger quilt. I will explain how later.

For now I will give you the measurements I used and the size of blanket I ended up with.

Fabric:

1 yard of Fabric Color 1 (I chose Gray) Cotton Quilting Fabric size (39"X36")
1 yard of Fabric Color 2 (I chose White) Cotton Quilting Fabric (39"X36")
1 yard of Minky Fabric in coordinating color (I chose White)

For ease of understanding, I will be referring to the fabric by the colors I chose. I used a 1/4" seam allowance for the entire project and ironed the seams down to make the quilt top piece together nicer and lay flatter as a finished product.

Start with the Cotton Quilting Fabric. Cut 3" strips along the 39" side (this is the finished side from the factory so will be the straightest to go off from for making these strips)
 
     Make a total of 9 (nine) 3" X 39" strips in the Gray Color
     Make a total of 9 (nine) 3" X 39" strips in the White Color

Sew these strips as shown below in the pictures. As you can see they form stair steps. The offset should be 3" (three inches).

 

 

Once you have the strips sewn together, cut them on 45 degree angle lining up with the stair step. (see below picture)

 

 

Make the 45 degree strips 3" wide. You will need a total of 6 (six) 3" (three inch) strips of each. There will be left over fabric, I cut all of it using a rotary cutter and a clear 6" wide quilting ruler. On my ruler there is a mark for 45 degrees and I lined that up with the horizontal seams. This could be done using other tools as well, if the tools I used are not available to you.

 

Once you have all twelve strips lay them in pairs to alternating the color patterns. Sew the strips together, working carefully to make sure that the intersections of color line up.

 

When you have sewn the entire top together it should look like the picture below. Then cut the extra corners off following the purple lines. This should leave you with a rectangle of approximately 30" X 31".

 

I pinned my 1 yard of minky fabric to the quilt top with right sides together and cut away the extra minky fabric. Please note I used a lot of pins almost back to back because minky fabric will stretch and pinning helps keep that at bay while sewing. I also used a jar lid to trace for a rounded corner otherwise a right angle corner get bulky when using this type of fabric. Sew the two pieces together leaving an opening to flip it right side out. Then I sewed a border around the entire thing to close the opening and give it a more finished edge.

 

If you want to make a larger quilt or larger pieces you can increase the size of the strips that you cut. For Example: Cut your gray and white strips to be 5" wide. Sew them together with a 5" offset. Once the rows are sewn together cut your diagonal strips at 5" wide as well. Please note that if you increase the size of the pieces you will need to have more fabric, and I would advise cutting them the longer way (So instead of getting one yard you get 1.5 yards of each color, so instead of 39" X 36" you would have a piece that is 39" X 54". Cut your strips so they are 5" X 54". This will eliminate having to make extra sections.)

 

Any questions let me know!