car seat blanket tutorial.

Awhile back when I was sharing pictures of the new baby’s clothes, I had mentioned that I had a cute tutorial to share with you, that was so easy your cat could do it. Well, I finally got around to getting it done and blogged. Hope you enjoy!

Now, you could do this 2 ways if you wanted. You could pick your own fabric and sew a simple hem around all 4 edges, or you could use a ready made receiving blanket, or even a thicker lined baby blanket like I chose.

You will also need a coordinating piece of fabric, or ribbon for this project. Luckily for me, when I bought the blanket, it was rolled up and tied with the brown/white band pictured above. Perfect!

Take your blanket and fold it in half.

Mine is all creased and wrinkly, which I’m assuming, is because it was rolled up tight when I bought it. But whatever, I’m trying not to let it bother me…

And then fold it in half again. We’re looking for the middle point people.

Pin out about 3 inches from the center of your blanket, on both sides. (Just ignore my clearly not even pins… LOL!)

Okay. Next step. Take your ribbon, or coordinating fabric and cut two even strips about 6 inches long. If your making your own strip using fabric, you will want to sew it into a tube so that you don’t get raggy edges that fray. Don’t worry about finishing the top and bottom, it won’t notice.

For mine, I just clipped the snaps off the bottom and was ready to go.

Using Velcro or snaps if your heart desires, sew your Velcro to the bottom of your fabric strip.

The second piece of Velcro should go on the opposite side of your fabric strip at the bottom. Be very careful.

It should be able to roll around itself like a bracelet and close up.

Simple so far, right? Well, we’re almost done.

Next up, take your strips of fabric and line the top up with your pin marks on your blanket.

Stitch your strip to your blanket, following the Velcro as your guide.

See only the Velcro part is stitched to my blanket.

The best part about mine, is that you can hardly tell from the back where I stitched it on, because the fabric is so plush.

Line up your second strip evenly and do the same thing. (It totally doesn’t look even in this picture, but I swear it was… LOL!)

And that’s it.

Grab your car seat and try it out.

Push the sun hood back and thread the blanket under the handle.

Loop your straps around the handle and there you have it!

An awesome car seat blanket that won’t shift or fly off on a windy day (I’ve had that happen more times than I can count)

Plus this helps keep people away from touching baby or trying to peek while they’re sleeping.

It keeps it cozy and warm in the winter, but still very accessible to lift and make sure baby is okay. From both the front and back.

A couple of things to remember… every car seat handle is different, so before you sew on the straps just make sure they are going to work with your style of handle. I picked a thicker blanket, since my little guy will be in it most of winter. A thinner cotton would work better for a summer baby. Also make sure your blanket/fabric isn't too big, you don’t want it dragging on the ground or getting all caught up in the base of your car seat when you click it into your vehicle.

So, that’s it. Told ya it was easy. Total time for this project, took me about 20 mins start to finish. Now if your cat does happen to make this, I wanna see some pictures. ;)

Totally off topic… I added a search feature to my blog, after a dear sweet friend of mine couldn’t find a particular post. Since it drives me nuts when I can’t find something I’m looking for, I thought I’d help ya out! ♥

Comments

[Unique Baby Gear Ideas]

I love the blanket AND it doesn't hurt that you say a cat could do it! That means even "I" might pull it off! Yippeee!

I pinned it on my baby crafts board so more people would find your pics.

Jan
Unique Baby Nursery Ideas

[Ellen]

Great gift idea and VERY good directions! Can't wait to make this for my first grandchild!

[Kristie]

I made mine 35 x 42 and it worked out wel

[Monica M]

Brilliant!

[karen chaplin]

Oooooo I'm loving this tutorial - just went out and bought some lovely flannel to make one for my friends new baby but no measurements arghhh (as you've used a baby blanket) any chance you can provide me with the measurements as my friend is in the UK and I'm in Oz it's a little difficult to work it out
hope you can help
Thanks heaps
Karen

[Carm]

AWESOME! You are a GENIUS!!!

[Barbara Whittaker]

A very real concern is that this covering deprives the child of enough fresh air - please make sure there is plenty of airflow.

[Amy]

Thanks Janay!!

Yes, the blanket is from Dwell Studio. I purchased mine at Buy Buy Baby but I know Target also carries the Dwell Studio line.

Thanks for the sweet comments! ♥

[Joanna]

Thanks for the post. I'm excited to do this for my next baby.

[Aimee]

I wish I had seen this idea about 16 months ago! I love it, and featured you here: http://sprik.blogspot.com/2010/09/brief-bits.html So clever!

[Janay]

I have that blanket!!! I am SOOO doing this!! It's an awesome idea. I got mine from Bo Bebe Meichelle. But you can order it online at Dwellstudio.com as well.

Super cute Amy. As always! ;) Oh and thanks for the search engine. I'm glad I'm under the "dear sweet friend" category! hehe

[Amy]

A friend made one for me and I love it!!!!

[Julie]

Another brilliant idea, my niece is having twins, this is an unusual and very practical gift I could do.....fingers crossed! Thanks

[Meichelle]

Where did you get that blanket?! I love it!