Emma’s not quite 5 weeks old, and I’m happy to report that I found some time to do a little sewing last week and made a canopy for her carseat! I noticed a ton of women with these at mom’s group — probably because there’s a company that is pretty liberal with a coupon code that lets you get one for only the cost of shipping. (Which is about $13. I probably spent right about that on the fabric needed for this one.) I was planning to just order from them, but most of the options were backordered until later this week. I figured that was a sign to just make one myself with fabrics of my choice!
With my sewing machine temporarily relocated to the dining room table, everything was right where I needed it and thankfully, this was a pretty simple project. I checked out a few tutorials that I found online (the best, I think, was from Make It Do) and took a closer look at one belonging to another mom last Tuesday at mom’s group. After that, I just winged it!
Pinning & prepping
I used a black and white floral cotton print for the outside and mint green minky on the inside. The fabric measured 36″ x 42″ to start, and I used a 5/8″ seam allowance. I also rounded the corners, as you can see in the photos above. For the two straps, I cut strips that measured 5″ x 8″ and folded them in half lengthwise to make finished straps of ~2.25″ x 7.5″ using a ~1/4″ seam allowance. I used sew-on velcro for the fasterner and positioned the straps in the middle of the cover about 5.5 inches apart. Pretty simple, really.
I’d never used minky before, and it was a little challenging. Fortunately, I had just come across this post from Sew Much Ado on Pinterest, and the tips she offered were very helpful — especially the advice to PIN, PIN, PIN. I had one big false start and had to tear out the whole seam of the cover because I neglected to check the stitching on both sides. Turns out my bobbin threading had gotten off kilter and my stitches were loose and looping on the back side. Sigh! It seems I’m destined to do some seam ripping with any project!
It worked much better the second time around after I double-checked my machine threading, and the finished product turned out great! I finished sewing on the straps last night, so I can’t wait to use it on Emma’s next outing!
Looks great!