Our little man’s arrival is getting closer and we have almost everything we need now- yippee! I got a great deal on a used car seat (no worries- no accidents, not expired, etc.) but I wasn’t loving the print. And… it just looked a bit too used.
So I gave it a makeover and now it looks as good as new!
Car Seat Makeover Tutorial. Find this and hundreds of other sewing tutorials at www.peekaboopages.com
Nice and clean and in a fabric I love!
The canopy got a nice makeover as well
Since I had a bit of extra fabric I made coordinating strap covers to keep our little man completely comfortable (keep reading for a tutorial on these!)
Disclaimer: Your baby’s safety always comes first. Nap Time Crafters is not responsible for any decisions made in recovering your car seat. Make sure you recover the seat in a suitable fabric and reuse the original padding so the thickness and protection remains exactly the same as the original. Follow your instruction manual to ensure the safety harness is correctly re-threaded when you put on the new cover. If you are buying used make sure the seat has never been in an accident and isn’t expired (car seats expire 6 years from the manufacturing date which is marked on the bottom of the seat.) Consignment stores that carry car seats check for both of these things before selling used car seats
I got a little too excited about this project and forgot to take a before photo, but here’s one piece of the cover. Just a bit blah and in person it was a bit dirty too- yuck…
My car seat is a pretty strange model so I didn’t take step-by-step photos but I do have lots of tips for you:)
- Take a lot of pictures of the original so you can refer back
- Reuse all of the original batting and as much of the cover as possible (I reused all of the navy portion and the trim)
- Take apart the car seat cover with your seam ripper (leave the seam allowances intact) and label each piece so you know exactly where it came from
- Use the original pieces as a pattern to cut out your new pieces
- Layer the new pieces on top of your batting and reconstruct the cover one piece at a time (it really isn’t as hard as you’d think)
- Sew the trim back on to finish all of the edges
- The holes for the straps are just giant buttonholes- I didn’t have to worry about them since I kept that portion of the cover
I do have a quick tute for you for the strap covers. And they’re reversible which is kind of fun:)
***Make sure the strap covers do not interfere with the positioning of the safety harness. The chest clip should still be at chest level and not pushed downward by the strap covers.
1. Cut out 3 rectangles for each cover and round the corners. You need 2 pieces in the outer fabric and 1 piece in fleece or batting. Mine measured 6″ wide x 4.5″ tall
2. Stack the rectangles with wrong sides together and the fleece/batting in the middle. Sew a length of bias tape around the edge
I found it was easiest to use a zig-zag stitch
3. Add your Velcro to each cover. 1 piece will be on one side of your fabric and the 2nd piece will be on the reverse side.
finished!
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Amy
Owner at Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop
Amy is the founder and owner of Peek-a-Boo Pattern shop. She is a wife and mother to 3 children. Amy loves to sew, read and spend time outdoors.
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Wow! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty
much the same page layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
I’ll right away grasp your rss feed as I can’t to find your email
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Please allow me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Here’s my feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NaptimeCrafters
And the newsletter: http://blog.peekaboopatternshop.com/subscribe-to-newsletter
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Regards!
Just saw this on pinterest! It’t super cute but it voids the manufactures warranty and is not flame retardant making it illegal to use. It’s cute but I would hate to see a childs life put at risk because of the cuteness of their carseat!
This is just the inspiration i needed to recover my nursery feeding chair. We’ll see how we go, thanks!
Super cute!!!! I love this!
Looks brilliant! Im due my baby in 10 weeks and need to make some new strap covers for our buggy so thank for the tute!!! Your car seat looks brand new. Very impressive!! x
Love it! So adorable!
So cute Amy! While I’m hoping I never need an infant seat again 😉 I love your directions.
WOW! what a great idea, I might totally use this idea, though I’d be scared to do it.
I love dots, was wonderful!!!
Wish I had the guts to do this! Amazing job!
Oh my goodness, that is amazing! I never would have that was possible, but it looks fantastic.
Wow you are so talented. Great job!
So much better! And super cute! Great job!!! Hope you are feeling well!
Great job Amy! It looks much better.