Car Seat Canopy Tutorial
A few days ago, we were able to meet my older sister, Emily. Today I am very excited to introduce you to my other sister, Tami. She is only a year older than me, and we are constantly being confused for twins. She is the best aunt to my 2 children, and I couldn’t be happier that she is going to be a mommy soon too! Both of my sisters are so creative and I am so excited to have them share their talents with you. Like my other sister, Emily, I’m not featuring Tami as a guest because I hope she’ll come back often and share some of her projects with us. Heeeeere’s Tami!
Hey everybody, I want to do a quick intro before I share my tut
orial with you. I am Natalie’s sister Tami. I am excited to be having my first baby in July and in preparation for our new baby, I decided that I would make a car seat cover and share my tutorial with you all. So, hang on tight and here we go. Let’s hope I don’t forget any steps!
First of all, I bought 1 1/3 yards of two coordinating fabrics. I had a little bit left over but not a whole lot. I thought it would be better to be safe than wish I had more. When I got it home I measured it to be the size I wanted. I chose to do it about 38″x40″. Depending on your car seat you may want to make it a different size. I figured this would work well for mine.
For my canopy, I decided I wanted rounded edges so I got a plate out of my mom’s cupboard and cut around it to give it the rounded edge. I also folded the fabric into fourths so that I didn’t have to make 4 separate cuts.
See? Worked pretty good.
Then I got my other fabric and made sure it was cut to the right size. I just put the one I already cut on top of the one that still needed to be cut. That way I would make sure I cut them the same so they would match up.
I gave the extra pieces of fabric to my nephew “Rambo”.
Then I laid the two fabrics together, right sides together and pinned it.
I got a lot of grief from my mom and Natalie though because I had pinned it wrong. So, I was told to take a picture of the correct way to pin something. I still think I did it wrong. I’m pretty sure it is supposed to be closer to the edge. I don’t think it really matters though, so pin it however you want! 🙂
Sew the edges together. Since I didn’t cut mine exactly perfect, I left more of an edge on the seam (normally I wouldn’t leave so much of an edge).
When you sew it, don’t forget to leave a spot open so you can turn it back the right way after the edges have sewn.
Before turning it the right way, make sure to clip the edges on the corner. Make sure you don’t clip through the seam. If you clip the seam it will make your seam have a big hole.
Next, pull the inside of the fabric to turn it inside out (which actually makes it right side out).
When you pull it inside out, make sure to push the corner edges out smooth.
After you have it turned right side out, work your fingers on the seam so that the seam comes out as far as possible. (I like to lick my fingers and then pinch and work the seam to the edge, it seems to do better.)
Then iron the edges. Make sure that the part that never got sewed is ironed straight so when you sew the edge you won’t be able to tell.
After the whole canopy blanket part is ironed, sew a seam on the very edge.
I used a fancy stitch on my mom’s sewing machine because mine doesn’t do fancy ones as easy.
The blanket part should look complete now. I then took this completed part and draped it over my car seat to figure out how to position it best.
Next I cut the fabric for the straps. My blue fabric was a little longer than my animal print fabric but I didn’t cut the length off until later because it didn’t really matter. I cut my straps 3 1/2 inches wide and then about 8 inches long. I just made sure that the straps went around my car
seat handle and fit pretty good.
Next I took the two pieces of fabric and sewed them inside out, sort of a miniature version of the blanket part except that I just sewed three of the sides and left one whole short side open.
I sewed the edge with about a 1/4 inch seam.
After it was sewn, I turned it inside out and this is what it gave me… a tube with an open end.
I ironed it flat.
And then I pinched the sides in and folded the sides inside the tube and then ironed it flat again.
Then I used the decorative stitch again and sewed around the edges of the strap.
Next, with the blanket part draped over my car seat, I positioned my straps and pinned them where I wanted them. Just a side note: you can turn the straps whichever way you want. I almost turned mine so the blue part was showing but I decided that I liked it the other way better.
Then, I sewed the strap to the blanket part.
When I sewed it, I sewed a rectangle part with an x through it to make it stronger.
It was pretty much finished except for that I didn’t have velcro to finish my straps. I pinned mine to make sure that it would be fine once I get the velcro. I bought some sewable velcro (don’t buy the kind that is sticky on the edge because it will “guck” up your machine) and all I have to do next is sew the velcro on the edge of both sides of the straps with a rectangle with an x through it like I did with the straps.
And there you have it… a completed car seat canopy!
I wish you luck and hope you like your car seat canopy as much as I love mine! Just can’t wait to put a baby in the car seat!
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Tammi your instructions are the best I have seen on any website. Just one quick question. I think I am clear but just want to be sure. You do make your canopy separate from blanket cover right. I had read another tutorial where they put a casing & elastic around canopy & then attached blanket cover.
Tami, I don’t usually comment on tutorials but I just had to this time. I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to make a canopy cover. I, too, lick my fingers to make the seams come out. You are correct about the pin placement. I teach my sewing students to place them near the edge for easier removal as they sew.
Pat, thank you for the comment. We are glad that we are doing some things right, because sometimes we just make things up and hope they work. 🙂
Thanks! Great site.
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
My spouse and I were sent here seeing as this particular web page had been tweeted by a girl I was following and feel excited I made it here.
Dear Tami,
I love your car seat cover. The fabric you chose was PERFECT! Sorry I told you your other choice of fabric looked like puke.
Nat