Here's a fun and easy tutorial for a rainy day. Reversible Car Seat Strap Covers! They're great for protecting your tike's sensitive skin and they look super cute too! You can choose all sorts of different fabric but I like one side with a decorative cotton and the other side with either minky or chenille. The minky gives them a decent thickness and I've made these with or without extra padding and both seem to do the job just fine. For the purpose of this tutorial however, I will show you how to do it with a layer of batting in the middle.
What You Will Need:
*2 pieces quilting cotton measuring 8"x5 1/2" each
*2 pieces of minky or chenille (or coordinating quilting cotton - whatever you choose) of the same dimensions as above
*2 pieces of fleece interfacing or quilt batting of the same dimensions as above
*velcro - 2 pieces, each about 4" long
*thread
*sewing machine
1. When the straps are complete, they measure about 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 for infant size and about 2 1/2 by 5 1/2 for toddler size. I made my own pattern which you can download here, or just measure. The template is roughly 8"x 5 1/2". I like to cut my patterns from tagboard so it's easy to store and reuse them. This template is for infant size. If you want to make them a little bigger for a toddler, just add an extra inch to the short side.
2. Now, trace your template onto your cotton fabric, and cut out two pieces. Repeat this step for the batting.
3. If you're good at sewing with minky, cut your fabric exactly the size of the template. If you've never sewed with minky, it can be a little bit tricky. It's stretchy, and has a tendency to curl and pull back on you while your sewing so, I cut my minky a little bit bigger than my other pieces and trim off the excess after I've sewed all the pieces together. This allows for a little room for error. See picture below for an example.
4. All your pieces should be cut. Now, it's time to make some fabric sandwiches!
5. Fuse your interfacing to the cotton piece according to manufacturer's instructions. Some you can iron on, others you just sew together. This particular brand that I am using you just sew. Place
wrong side of cotton on top of batting, as shown below.
6. Then take the minky piece and place
right side of minky against
right side of cotton with the batting. Pin pieces together. Minky also likes to slide around while you sew it, so it's a good idea to pin about every inch and a half. I just pin each side and it does the job.
7. Now, with a 1/2" seam allowance, sew sides together leaving about a three inch opening for turning.
8. Trim off the extra minky.
9. Turn inside out and use a chopstick to poke out the corners.
10. Fold in the opening, pin together if necessary, then topstitch the opening closed, and continue topstitching the rest of the way around.
11. Now, for the velcro. Sew one strip to the cotton side and the other strip to the minky side. This makes them reversible! Make sure they line up before sewing them on. Again, pins are good. I made this strap and the velcro on the minky side is a little too far in from the edge, as shown in the second picture below.
12. And, voila! Repeat the process for the second strap and you're done!
Not perfect, but baby doesn't mind!
