When Weston was born two and a half years ago, car seat canopys were just coming into existence. It’s funny how almost every infant car seat I see now at Walmart or the gym has a canopy. I remember when nursing covers were the same way too, a brand new idea that became a staple for any new nursing mom.
1 1/2 yd main fabric (100% quilting cotton recommended)
1 1/2 yd coordinating fabric (100% quilting cotton recommended)
5 yd rick rack – 1 3/8″ wide was used in this tutorial (optional)
Pieces to Cut:
From main fabric:
see step 1 to begin instructions for cutting gathered panels
From coordinating fabric:
reverse of canopy: 36″x42″
center strip on top of canopy: 7″x36″
1. First, we’ll make our pattern that we’ll use to cut our pieces for the gathered panels. Remember that each car seat is shaped a bit differently, so it’s best to have your car seat on hand to measure before you cut your top panel pieces, and please make adjustments as needed. The first few steps are the trickiest if you’re new to pattern design, so hang in there and you’ll be golden! If you read through the steps before getting started, that should help as well to visualize what we’re doing.
The finished size of our canopy will be 35 1/2″x41 1/2″. Most car seats will need the panel where the top of the car seat is to be shorter than the panel that covers the bottom portion of the car seat. I took a 42″ blanket and determined that I needed 4 extra inches from the handle to the bottom than from the handle to the top of the car seat. Using newspaper, make a rectangle that is 36″x20 1/2″, which will be the pattern for the bottom gathered panel. The pattern for the top gathered panel will need to be 36″x16 1/2″, but you can just use the larger pattern and cut it down to 16 1/2″ after you’ve used it for the 20 1/2″ piece.
2. Cut slits approximately 2″ apart across the widest side of the pattern, leaving 1″ uncut along the opposite side. Sorry, Rudolf :(…
7. Gather the outward curve to approximately 36″, and pin to one side of center contrast strip, right sides together, and adjusting gathers.
14. Allow end of rick rack to overlap beginning tail, and trim excess.
16. Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, stitch around all four sides of pinned pieces, leaving a 6″ opening on one side.
oooh i luv luv the fabrics you have chosen so cheerful.
Would luv for my readers to discover your blog, will you please join our weekly party at
http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-showcase-tutorial-with.html
have a great crafting week!
Maggie
http://passionatelyartistic.com
Oh my goodness Abby! sooo cute! I love the fabric, the pleats and the ric rac! You are such a smart seamstress!
Love this! Thanks for linking up. I shared this on facebook!
Beautiful, Abby!
Love that fabric, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for a girl for you!
Hello
Just wanted to let you know that I am sharing this post over at my blog. If there is anything you would like me to remove, please let me know.
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Jennifer
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Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [15 Nov 02:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria
Oh wow – what a fantastic tutorial!! Super cute and you did a fantastic job!
This is so cute!!
I want to make this so badly but I’m scared I’ll screw it up!
car seat cover very important to chage and i think parents must be carefullu to choice
http://www.royalbambino.com/Infant-Car-Seat-Covers_c_431.html
I guess I’m crazy but the newspaper part confused me! Is the full strip 2″ or tapers to 1″ where you don’t cut??? Haha :)
Simply Sew Sassy – the whole strip is 2″ (although mine obviously were eye-balled and not all 2″ exactly), and the 1″ is the amount at the end of the strip that is not cut. Hope that helps!
I need your help! :/ I got a little ahead of myself and I miss read the “Pieces to Cut” part and I cut the reverse canopy piece as well to match the front piece so I don’t have a full 36″x42″ of the reverse canopy. What to do??! what to do?!?…
Jaqui – Don’t worry! You can just do the underside the same as the top, and you’ll just end up with gathers on both sides instead of just one. Maybe you’ll even like it better that way, hehe!
Sooo cute!! I have a few baby gifts to make & I can’t wait to try this! Do you happen to know how many months this is good for? Meaning before the baby grows out of this type of car seat carrier? Thanks for a great tut!
Hi! 1 more question, you say to measure the car seats – these are gifts, so I won’t know the measurements. Are the ones you give pretty standard if I were to just use those?
Thanks again! So cute!
Meredith – most babies can fit in their infant carseats until they’re at least 1 year, unless they’ve reached the weight maximum before then. And yes, my measurements should be fairly standard, so you should be pretty safe to use them!
I just made this yesterday for my new Grand-Daughter due any day. Instructions were very good and easy to follow. It turned out so cute, the gathers makes it different then all the others you see. I think I will make more to give as baby gifts. Thanks so much!
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Hi,
I heard that the fabric needs to be washed and dried before sewing. Is this true being I heard they shrink and would that change the measurements of what’s needed?
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Great idea and instructions—thank you!
This was great and easy to follow! How about one of those things that goes in a shopping cart so baby doesn’t touch the germ-y cart handle or bars??