Car Seat Cover

When we registered for baby items while I was pregnant with Elle, there was only one car seat at Babies R Us that was specifically “girly”. These days you can find some pretty cute girly stock car seats, but why buy one of those when you can design your own?! I’m in love with this Anna Maria Horner fabric from her Good Folks line! I knew I wanted to use it for something I’d get lots of use out of, and the car seat definitely fits that bill!

The next time I mention making something without a pattern, someone please remind me that I really don’t like that! I took apart the cover that came on Elle's car seat and used it as a template to make a slip cover with the new fabric. I used fusible fleece on the back, added additional foam padding to the seat itself, ran elastic along the edge, and used my manual button hole maker (I guess that’s what you call it… it’s where I select the stitches from my machine that make each side of the button hole and I control the length of each instead of it being determined by a button you set in the button hole foot) to make the openings for the straps. The hood is the pink fabric on the outside and lined with the black and white print. The head support insert and the lining on the strap covers is made from super cuddly soft white "minky" (I figured I could be impractical with the white since she'll only use it for a little while). It ended up coming out well, but second guessing myself throughout the process and constantly wondering if there’s an easier way to do things was frustrating. It’s one of those projects that I’m glad it’s done, happy with the way it turned out, but wouldn’t want to make another!