DIY stretchy car seat cover

Taking a break from pregnancy/house update/vacation posts to write about a DIY project I recently made.  I fell in love with those striped, stretchy knit car seat covers that seem to be everywhere on blogs and social media right now.  I have a heavier weight car seat cover that I used with Arlo, but for this summer baby I wanted something lighter and more breathable that still allowed me to provide shade and protection when we need to.  I had planned on just buying one of these covers, but realized I could easily make my own for a fraction of the price - and I already had the materials on hand!  I had recently bought several yards of stretch knit material to sew baby hats and headbands, and realized I had the exact amount I needed to whip up a seat cover - and in a striped black and white pattern just like the one I was planing to buy.  I think in times like these it was just meant to be...

I based the size of this cover to fit a Chicco Keyfit 30, but I think it would likely stretch to accommodate most brands of infant car seats.  One of the best things about this project is that it's multi-purposed - it can also be used as a high chair cover, nursing coverup, or shopping cart cover.  It folds up to a compact, lightweight, portable size so you can always have it on hand in the diaper bag.

Ok, on to the tutorial!

DIY stretchy car seat cover

Materials needed:

• lightweight stretch knit fabric - fabric that has a lot of stretch to it works best
• coordinating thread
• scissors

1.)  Start by prewashing your fabric.   Although I don't think stretch knit will shrink too much, it's a good practice to always prewash everything before you sew.

2.)  Cut your fabric to 29" tall by 63" wide, making sure that the width is the stretchy part!  note: if your car seat is larger than a Chicco Keyfit, you may need to cut your fabric a bit wider.

3.)  Fold fabric in half width-wise (see photo below) and lay flat so fold is on left, and fabric is wrong side out.

4.)  Stitch up right side of fabric using a zig-zag or stretch stitch if your machine has one.  (Ignore the pins in the photo below for now, I am about to explain those...)  Your fabric should now be in the shape of a tube with the top and bottom being the open part.

5.)   Keeping fabric wrong side out, lay your fabric flat again.  Measure and pin the corners as I did in the photo below, 8" over from each side and 14" down from the top.  Put a pin in each of those locations and then run pins between them, making a triangle shape.  I used a marking pen and straight edge to draw a line first, then inserted my pins along the line.

6.)  Repeat for other side.

7.)  Sew along the pin lines, again using a zig-zag or stretch stitch.  Now is a good time to mention the walking foot.  I recently purchased one for all the knit fabric projects that I am in the process of making, and let me tell you - it is a game changer!  A walking foot helps to feed the fabric evenly on top and bottom, avoiding the annoying bunching that can otherwise happen when working with knits.  I highly recommend one if you plan to work with this type of fabric often, they run only about $20 at JoAnns.

8.)  Using a rotary cutter (or scissors), cut off triangle of fabric that you just sewed.  Repeat for other side.  note: don't cut off the stitched line that you just sewed!

This is what it should look like at this point:

Hey, guess what?!  You are done!  That's how incredibly easy these are.  Turn it right-side out and pop on your car seat!  The small hole is at the top and the larger hole is on the bottom.  There is no need to hem the top or bottom because this type of fabric will not fray.

See how stretchy it is?  So easy to peek at baby!

I was just a tiny bit sad that I had used up every inch of this fabric that I bought without making a baby hat, which was this materials original intended use.  Well, I had used up almost every inch...  I realized the two cut off triangles could be sewn into a piece large enough for a newborn size hat!

Now, I can say that I used up every inch....

This cover (and hat!) cost only $10 for the fabric, about a third of the price of a ready-made one you might buy online.  It only takes about 10-15 minutes to sew up and would make a great gift as well.  If you make this tutorial please let me know, I would love to see pictures and know how it worked out for you!  Here is a picture I found on Pinterest showing how else you can use a stretchy cover like the one I made:

happy sewing!  :)

recently made things

I almost always have a craft project or two that I am currently working on.  However in the last few months it has not been uncommon for me to have several projects in the works at one time.  I don't know what lit the fire in me but lately I have felt like I can't spend enough time making things!  I think it might have been a combination of the new house needing decorations and the arrival of autumn and cooler weather, which always makes me want to crochet every spare minute.  My first big project as of recent was the teepee I made for Arlo, which he absolutely loves, and then I kinda went from there.  If you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen most of these, but here on the blog I can provide a link to the project I used as inspiration.

First up, an oversize ruler growth chart for Arlo.  I saw these on Pinterest years ago and have always wanted to make one.  I read several tutorials but this one was the one I most closely followed.  I originally planned to use a stencil for the numbers and just sponge paint them on, but didn't like the look when I practiced it on a scrap piece.  So I opted to trace the stencil lightly with a pencil, and then do all the painting by hand.  This method took way longer but it turned out even better than I hoped it would.  I usually opt for a dark stain for wood but wanted the painted letters to really pop so I picked a lighter color.  Total cost for this project was around $10 as I only had to buy the wood board and fine paintbrush, I had all of the other materials on hand already.  I haven't yet officially made a mark for how tall he is, I plan to mark it on his second birthday in a couple of weeks.

Just before Halloween I had the motivation to do a little pattern writing, so I made these cute little Halloween crochet corks.  You might remember the Holiday cork set I made last year.  These are the same idea -- little crochet figurines around wine corks.  I started with the pumpkin and then made a skeleton and Frankenstein to go with him, and then kind of lost steam after that.  I never got around to publishing the patterns even though I have them ready to go, but there is always next year...  Total cost of this project was free because I already had the yarn on hand and it was easy to quickly down three bottles of wine  ;)

I am not traditionally a painter and had actually never before painted on canvas, but I had so much fun hand painting the ruler growth chart that I decided to try another painting project.  I initially wanted to make just the deer head canvas seen below, but the canvases were on sale at JoAnns and I had a coupon so I bought two.  I made both of these during a single nap time one afternoon.  The deer head was really easy and fun to make, and is currently residing on top of our fireplace mantle as a fun Christmas decoration.  Go here to find out how you can make your own!

The other canvas was something I decided to make once I was home and had started the deer head painting, so it had to be something I already had all the materials for.  Let's call this one an impulse craft project.  And also a Pinterest fail -- turned success.  I followed the instructions for the birch tree canvas and ended up with this:

I sort of liked it, and set it upstairs in the hallway so I would see it frequently before I committed to putting a nail in the wall for it.  After a couple of days I decided it needed a little more work, and spent about an hour "erasing" the blobby black paint by going over it with white acrylic paint.  I then loved how it looked (so birchy!) and will be hanging it in our bedroom when I get around to working on the wall collage in there...  Lesson learned - credit cards are meant for buying things, not for painting things!  I think I spent around $5 on each canvas, $2 on paint, $4 on glitter and $4 on the gold paint pen to make the K + E.  Not bad for two pieces of wall art.

This next crochet project was something I saw some else make and share on Instagram.  I am slowly starting to develop a crochet wall hanging obsession, and when I saw these I knew I had just the right spot for them.  In our new house, we have a front room that I suppose is designed to be a formal living room, but right now it's pretty much empty.  We do have plans for eventual built-in bookcases and new furniture, but for now all that's in the budget is these free crochet hangings, ha.  The pattern was written to be a rug, but with an appropriate sized hook and yarn weight, it can be made into pretty much any size desired.  I used navy yarn that I already had on hand and hung them above our vintage sewing table.  I love, love, love them and kind of want some in every room of the house.  I was a little nervous to hang them up because I had to put eight nails in the wall for each one, but once I put them up I knew I wouldn't be taking them down any time soon.

I took a little break from my constant crocheting to do a little sewing (have I mentioned how much I love to sew?!) and make Arlo a couple of pillowcases for his toddler sized pillow.  I recently started putting his little pillow in the crib with him, and he seems to really enjoy using it.  Standard size pillowcases are way too big, so I whipped up a couple that fit it just right.  I used flannel fabric because we are heading into winter, but will probably make a few more warm weather cases at a later date.  Total cost was only a few dollars as the deer fabric was on super sale and I already had the other fabric on hand.  I used this great video tutorial, but used only two colors instead of three. 

Out of the leftover deer fabric I made Arlo a pair of pajama pants.  I didn't really use a pattern or tutorial for these, I just traced a pair of pants that fit him currently and added a seam allowance and an inch or so to the length so he has some grow room.  The decision to not follow a pattern was likely why half of the deer ended up upside down, which initially made me annoyed because at that point I had already cut the fabric and didn't have enough to redo them.  So I proceeded with the project and then posted a pic to Instagram.  Someone mentioned that half the deer would be right side up to Arlo as he wore them and then it all made sense and I loved the pants and all was right with the world again.  Or something like that.  Anyway, pants:

Up next is a quick and easy project I started before Halloween but didn't figure out just the right spot to hang it until nearly Thanksgiving.  It is a cute little pumpkin garland, and I ended up putting it in our living room above our sofa wall collage.  I used sewing pins to hang it so the holes in the wall are super tiny and not visible to the eye unless you are actually standing on the sofa, which most of our house guests typically refrain from during their stay.  Cost: free as I already had the yarn, pattern: here.

Before I even took down the pumpkin garland I knew I wanted a Christmas garland to replace it, so I found this quick and easy tutorial online.  At the time I didn't have a pom pom maker (I have since bought one for other crafts) so I used two empty TP tubes, which worked pretty well!  Cost was only a couple of dollars for the mini ornaments.

I started making this little lamb over a year ago, and finally got around to finishing it in the last few weeks.  I followed the pattern pretty much as written but did go up a couple of hook sizes because I was struggling with the small hooks and that super fluffy yarn.  Not sure where I am going to keep him but for now he is sitting on a shelf in the office guarding my yarn stash, and doing a darn good job of it.

Next project was very quick and easy, and required that I learn how to make my own pom poms which turns out is also very quick and easy.   It uses a large hook and chunky yarn so it can be made in around an hour or less.  Arlo has had quite the hat obsession for a while now and wants to wear them all day (indoors and out) so he was pretty happy about the hat mama made him...  Pattern here but you do have to create an account on the Lions Brand website (it's free and easy!)  I ended up making two hats, one rainbow colored and one red & white, and the cost for each was around $5 for the yarn. 

On our recent drive up to DC for thanksgiving, I started making these adorable earwarmers and legwarmers for Arlo's little friend, Lyra.  The pattern uses a shell stitch which I don't remember having done in the past, and I immediately fell in love with it.  It's an easy, repeatable stitch that is almost meditating to crochet.  In fact, I loved it so much I also made a set for our babysitter's daughter and plan to make myself earwarmers out of a similar pattern.  Not going to mention the cost because it is a gift but I was able to make each set out of exactly one skein of yarn.

Arlo modeling them after I finished them during our trip.  It always helps to have a kid the same size as the person you are making the gift for!  He has actually tried to steal them several times now so he can wear them himself.  Are they still girly if I make him a set in blue and grey??  ;)

 

Speaking of Lyra, she is also now a big sister!  Her family welcomed their new little lady, Lucy, at the beginning of the month.  Of course I wanted to make her a little something, and decided upon this sweet little pixie bonnet (also made with a shell stitch!)  It turned out great and I hope she loves it.  This little bonnet would also make an excellent photo prop for anyone doing newborn photos.  I love the slightly scalloped edge and subtle yarn variegation.

And finally, a couple of my girlfriends and I who regularly get together for lunch dates (I like to think of us as "ladies who lunch" because it makes us sound fancy, ha) decided to do an ornament exchange this year.  I decided that in addition to buying an ornament from the store, I would also crochet each of them one of my Holiday crochet corks.  These little Santas were so adorable hanging on our tree waiting for their new homes that I know I will probably end up making one for myself as well!

And they ended up loving the Santas so much that they requested another one, so I made a few trees and an elf...

Whew!  That was a lot of crafting.  You might think that all I do is craft all day long, but truth be told these were almost entirely done during nap times, or finished up after Arlo went to bed.  None of these projects were attempted whilst our tiny tornado of a toddler was on the loose, I know better than that.  Ha!  More projects to come soon, as I don't have any intentions on stopping this crafting madness anytime soon...

toddler crafts

I have been ready and waiting for Arlo to reach the age he is at right now.  My pinterest feed will prove it.  Ever since he was just a newie who couldn't even roll over, I have been furiously pinning toddler crafts and activities that I hoped we would one day do together.  Well, that time has arrived, and oh boy am I excited!  Over the past month or so, we have done a couple of new activities together each week.  Most were free or cost next to nothing, and all held his attention longer than any store-bought toy ever has.  I thought I would share a few of them here today.

First up, homemade bubbles.  I came across this oversized bubble wand they had on display at the local toy store near our house.  They had it all set up outside to play with, and Arlo's face lit up the second I picked it up and showed him what it did.  I bought him one on the spot and headed next door to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for the DIY bubble recipe that was included with the wand.  They are the best bubbles ever, super cheap, and the recipe makes a TON, but we have been making 1/3 of a batch at a time.  Every evening after dinner Arlo stands by the back door and says "bubbles.  bubbles.  bubbles!!"  because he knows that evenings are when we head out to the back deck to play with bubbles and the water table.

There are a whole bunch of recipes out there to make your own bubbles, but this one has been working out great for us:

12 cups water
3 cup dish soap (we use the blue Dawn, not the most "natural" but makes awesome bubbles!)
3/4 cup corn syrup

*simply mix together and use.  makes a whole gallon!  try and keep the solution from sitting out in direct sunlight as it will make them last longer.

The next craft project we worked on was watercolor paints.  Arlo has used crayons and markers in the past, and has done some painting at the babysitters house.  I bought the regular Crayola watercolors, and he loved it.  His favorite part was dipping the brush in the paint.  And then into another color.  And another.  So basically, all the colors end up mixed together but he had fun in the process.  He painted on a huge piece of scrap white cardboard as I wanted him to have a large, blank canvas that wouldn't move around on him easily.

The next one is more of a homemade toy than it is a craft project.  I came across the idea on Pinterest.  Basically you just take an empty plastic food container (I used an Earth Balance tub) and cut holes in the top to push pom poms through.  I have also seen something similar with an empty Parmesan cheese canister and straws to drop through the holes on top (would love an empty cheese container from any of you cheese-eating readers, ha.)  This activity didn't hold Arlo's attention for that long (too easy?) but he seemed to have fun for a few minutes. 

I made Arlo a pair of binoculars earlier this week out of two empty toilet paper tubes, some tape, construction paper, and yarn.  He loved them and played with them all afternoon.  Even this morning he was still enjoying just wearing them around his neck!  This was another idea from le Pinterest.

And I saved the best for last.  Homemade play dough!  I made this last week and Arlo has been playing it with almost daily since.  He calls it "may mo" haha.  I was feeling a bit ambitious when I read the recipe, and made three batches all at once because I wanted to have more than one color on hand.  This was a good idea in theory, however it ended with a trashed kitchen, flour everywhere, and multiple pots and pans to wash.  Next time I will probably stick to a single color, or try and find some natural food dyes from whole foods so I can make a big batch of plain white, then divide it up into smaller amounts and add color.  I used this recipe, and to make the individual colors I used spinach, fresh cherries, and tumeric.  I love that the inguredients are all natural and food-based and I didn't have to worry about what would happen if he tasted it, which surprisingly, he didn't.  I can't say the same for Lucy though, she ended up with quite the snack when we stepped away for a diaper change.  Let's just say she drank a lot of water that afternoon, and we have been very careful to keep it out of her reach ever since!

I gathered up some random toys and baby-safe kitchen utensils to use with the play dough, and Arlo even learned how to roll it into a ball with his palms, and roll it into a log on the table (with some help.)   I have a feeling this recipe will be well loved in our house for a long time to come.

One thing that I love about all this, is that when he is bored of these projects and crafts, the items can easily be tossed into the recycling bin or compost pile, unlike bulky plastic toys that spend the remainder of their life with us shoved in the corner or stored in a closet somewhere.  Not to say we don't have any regular toys, trust me we have plenty.  But I love the idea we can come up with a fun new thing to play with together, usually without ever having to leave home.  #DIYforthewin  :D

That's all for now, but according to my Pinterest page there are like, 794 more toddler crafts that I need to do while Arlo is still this young, ha.  Better get to it!

the nursery.

If the occupant is no longer considered an infant, can you still call their room a nursery?  I have wanted to share photos of Arlo's room since before he was born.  I kept delaying this post due to not being completely finished decorating, and while it's still not 100% done (will it ever be?) I have decided it's finally time to just share how it looks right now so I can always remember his first bedroom.  I would describe my style as eclectic and tend to choose natural and organic elements - handmade and recycled when possible, so his room is kind of a hodgepodge of vintage, new, and DIY projects.  While his is the smallest room in our house, it is also definitely one of my favorites!

When we started remodeling our house over two years ago, I knew that we would be using this room as the nursery, and choose to start painting in there first.  As I did with every single room in the house, I painted the ceiling, walls, window trim and baseboards, door and door trim, and closet shelving.  I wasn't even pregnant with Arlo yet, but always had a feeling that we would have boys, and choose a very subtle blue paint for the walls.  Together, Erik and I installed a switch for the closet light (formerly a pull-cord) and wired in a ceiling light above the changing table.  I love how it turned out, and I am so excited to finally share it with y'all.

Welcome to Arlo's room!

wall shelves:  hand built from scrap lumber by Erik, painted by me.
toys on shelves:  lamb with red heart sewn by me, cat and dragon crocheted by me.  I also made the bunting.  shoes are the ones I bought for the baby announcement photo!  the rest of items are gifts.
cloud wall clock:  made by me.  I ordered the wood from etsy, painted it and installed a clock mechanism.
rocking chair and ottoman:  yard sale find.
quilt on the chair:  hand made my my mom, but I choose the fabric and pattern.  free pattern available here!
side table:  bought secondhand, metal basket full of burp cloths made by me.  baby monitor is by Anglecare.
curtains:  I wish I could say I made them myself, but I was running out of time as my due date was approaching and ended up buying these from TJ Maxx. 

Crib:  this was my baby crib (it is 32 ½ years old)!  After I was done using it as a baby, it was kept at my Grandparents house in northern Michigan.  all of my younger cousins slept in it when they went to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  at first I was unsure if this crib was really "my style" for Arlo's room, and thought about painting it a fun color.  I am so glad I kept it original - I absolutely love it's vintage look.  we bought a new mattress, Little Dreamer by Moonlight Slumber (which I highly recommend!)  small cart at the foot of the crib holds the cloth diapers and a few books that Arlo can easily access.

crochet mobile:  Little Veggie Mobile - one of my original designs.  pattern available in my etsy store  :)

photo on wall:  gift from friend

birdcage:  I saw this in a catalog before I was even pregnant, and knew it would be perfect for a future nursery.  this was the first thing I ever bought for the room!  on it, I have displayed ultrasound photos, the pregnancy announcement I hung up at work, Arlo's birth announcement, a whale I crocheted, a bunny I hand sewed, and photos of Arlo that rotate as he continues to grow and change.

dresser/changing table:  found on Craigslist, and we paid a bit more than I wanted to because it fit in this little alcove so perfectly.  I think it cost $80, but it is solid wood and was already painted the exact color I was looking for.  there are maybe two inches to the wall on either side, and it's the perfect height for a changing table.  all I did was change out the knobs to solid bronze to match the rest of the hardware in the house. 
changing pad:  bought on Amazon but I can't remember which brand it is.  I know it has an organic cotton cover and is contoured on all four sides.  I sewed the changing pad cover myself, and made a couple of other ones so we have extras.
little basket:  don't know where it came from, but I use it to store baby lotion, diaper rash stick, flannel cloth wipes (made by my mom), and a squirt bottle with plain water to wet the cloth wipes.

inside the crib:  Arlo's favorite stuffed animal - snugamonkey!  also, an alligator I crocheted and little gnome doll I sewed.  the monkey and colorful caterpillar were baby shower gifts.  the flannel receiving blanket at the foot of the crib was one of many made by Erik's mom, and we have been using these since Arlo was born!

Arlo says "hi! thanks for stopping by!"

the closet:  not as organized as it was in the very beginning, that's for sure!  I keep most of his clothes in the dresser for easy access when we are changing him, but have the less frequently used items hanging up, as well as things I have bought for the next season so I can keep track of what I still need to buy as he grows.  also stored in here are sheets, blankets, shoes, some toys, hats, books for bedtime reading, his suitcase, and extra diaper inserts and wipes.  I also have quite the stockpile of disposable diapers (for nighttime use and traveling) on the top shelf as I scored a great deal online and stocked up a while back!

Thanks for coming along on the nursery tour.  Now if you'll excuse Arlo, it's time for his nap!