Car seat bag tutorial

Finally! I made this bag as a present back in August and now I'm finally posting it. Why? Because it is full tutorial and writing it is bigger job than making it was! But here it is, full tutorial how to make car seat bag for a baby. And not just any bag, this one is adjustable to almost any baby seat, it doesn't matter if the car seat has three point or five point belts. It is great during winter or cold weather overall, no need to wear thick clothes for the baby when you can wrap him/her in a warm sleeping bag. Plus, it is even safer for the babies as you can fasten the seat belt more securely when there are less clothes on the way!

Let's start with what you need:

Fabric for the cover

Insulation fabric e.g. fleece, wool or other padding

Lining, something soft and comfortable e.g. velour, any knit fabrics

Fleece is affordable and rather warm but one warning; having too many layers of it means that the bag doesn't breath at all and that's definitely not good for the baby! Fleece is purely plastic. I used new fabrics for all of the layers as it was a present but you can easily make car seat bag with recycled materials too. Just take padding out of old duvet, use old felts etc for the lining and for the cover almost anything goes, old curtains are always great!

For each layer you need fabric 90cm x 92cm (width x height, inludes seam allowance)

Zip 60-65cm

Metallic snaps

Small pieces of fusible lining

Figuring out how to make a sleeping bag is rather easy but figuring out how to make it suitable for any car seat, wasn't. I didn't have any idea if the family who I was giving it to, had three point or five point car seat for the baby and obviously I couldn't ask so I had to go the harder way. 

For car seat with three point belt you can make pretty simple bag; just make button holes for the places that the belt goes through and that's it. You can still easily remove the bag with baby on it without waking him/her up.

I could have made button holes for the five point seat belts too but then you would need to remove all the seat belts from the car seat before you can use the bag or remove it. Not very easy and it would easily become unused.

The other problem was the measurements! I found tutorials for bags like these but no one mentioned where the belts should go, only the rough measurement of the whole bag. And I had just managed to get rid of our baby car seat. Luckily, I belong to couple great Facebook sewing groups so I asked there for few different seat measurements. It's amazing how you get an answer there in minutes, no matter when you ask it! And here they are, the measurements I used.

Measurements are cm. This is also your pattern, the top is where the baby head comes to and the sides come together with a zip. Down in the middle you see number 22, that's the height from the bottom for the first button hole for the seat belt that goes between the baby's legs. On top you see small number 3, that's the distance between the line marked in the picture (top of the zip) and the bigger button hole. Makes no sense? Check couple more photos and it starts making sense (hopefully).

Here is the drawing of the giant button hole for the bag! Yes, the bag has one "small" button hole (the one on the bottom) and two large ones. The button hole on the bottom is 8cm wide, should be enough for almost any baby car seat. If it's not, just make it wide enough. Then measure 5cm to the left and right and 5cm up (drawn with black colour) and mark your big button holes. The button hole is 38cm long and after the turn point on the top, 5cm wide. So two large L-holes. The blue markings are for the snaps, I used three on both sides, distances as shown in the picture. 

For now, just mark these on the reverse side of the fabric. I recommend using something more permanent than chalk as you need these later on, just make sure you aren't using anything that shines through or spreads in the washing machine.

I used pencil as you can (hopefully) see here.

Make a tab for the zip for easier sewing and also great if you don't have a zip with desired length.

Then prepare the snap "flaps". I really like this fabric but it is horrible to take a picture out of it if you are trying to show something! Follow the green arrows and you should see what I mean. The flaps are used to close the L-button holes so both ends are on different sides of the button hole. I thought it is better that the end with the snap is on the outer side to make the bag more comfortable for the baby.

edit. I added a drawing about the snap flaps as the photo wasn't very clear. (The drawing is a bit wonky but hope you get the idea...)

Cut 6 pieces of fabric, approximately 5cm x 8cm (width x height). Cut out a bit smaller pieces out of fusible lining (you don't need it in seam allowances), iron them on.

Iron also small pieces of fusible lining on the cover fabric, on the places where the snap goes and also to where the flap is going to be attached.

Sew the flaps. I tried to make them tube first but way too narrow to turn them right way! Much easier to sew the other end with right sides facing, turn and fold lengthwise, fold and iron the two longer edges, stitch over.

Tools I had for fastening the snaps; pliers by Prym and usual pliers from tool box to tight them a bit. Prym pliers are great for fastening the snaps but if you don't secure the snaps with the other pliers, they tend to come of. 

I usually press the snap on every side like this after using the Prym pliers:

If you are working with delicate fabrics, it would be good idea to use a small piece of fabric between the pliers to prevent them from harming the main fabric.

Sew the snap flaps on their place. I sew them with small zig zag and added extra piece of fabric on back side. Attach the other half of the snaps on the other side of the button hole soon-to-be. Use extra layer of fabric here too, else the snap will just come through the fabric.

In the next steps you want to see where the button hole comes, so sew around your markings, just with long straigh stitch. Remember to sew exactly where the button holes are going to be, you won't have any other markings visible later on.

I made the top of the bag from different fabric, now is the time to sew the bottom and the top together. Iron that seam with seam allowances open (1.). Sew the top seam and iron again seam allowances open (2.).

Sew also the top seam of the linings. If the fabrics you are using are very thick, you can sew them separately, I sew my linings together, easier to handle. Place the lining against the main fabric right sides facing.  I have to say the clips work here perfectly! The pins always makes the thick parts a bit wonky. Sew around the hood, from one corner to another. Leave the long sides open.

Turn, iron and stitch over.

For the next step make sure that the layers stay put. I used clips but if you don't have them, baste stitch around the open edges.

Sew around the button hole marking stitch using regular straight stitch. This is to prevent the fabrics stretching when making the button hole and it goes through every layer so it also keeps them still.

Sew the button hole following the markings made before, mind the snap flaps.

Remove the baste and support stitches when visible.

Sew the zip onto the lining, fold and iron the seam allowance of the top fabric.

Pin/clip and sew.

Sew the bottom. I chose to sew it so that zip is on the other side but you can also place it in the middle, depending what kind of form you want for the bottom of the bag.

Almost ready!

Cut open the button hale. Be very careful! You don't want to ruin your hard work now.

This is how the belts come through the bag. Thanks to the big button holes and snap flaps you can pretty easily place and remove it from the car seat or pram, even with the sleeping baby (at least if he/she is heavy sleeper and don't mind you moving him/her around!). Just remember that there are only snaps on the back, they won't support the baby's weight even for a second so always support the baby like usually.

I have to say that if making the bag was a real piece of work with figuring out the sewing order, so was writing this blog post! It has been few months when I sew the bag so trying to remember every step was quite hard. This tutorial is by far the most complex in this blog but I'm glad I managed to write it all down!

I hope you enjoy it and find some use for it. Of course if I missed something or there's something unclear, just ask.

Gift bags out of fabric scraps

Have you ever thought of making gift wrapping out of fabric instead of the paper? I hadn't so the challenge #6 in #12DaysofChristmasDIYChallenges was very welcome! I have fabric more than enough, plenty of material to use!

The challenge is set up by the following bloggers:

Jill @ Creating my way to Success
Vicky @ Vicky Myers Creations
Anna @ Tea and a Sewing Machine
Pam @ Threading My Way
Anne @ Domesblissity

I like to use gift bags when wrapping the presents, especially for grown up gifts. The shape of the present doesn't matter, just find suitable gift bag and you are done. Also, they are re-usable unlike the gift paper. The only person I know who has saved the gift papers was my grandma. She collected all the bigger pieces on Christmas eves and took them to the attic. I don't remember if she used them later on though. Anyway, I keep all the gift bags that come to our household, I have a nice pile of them and I don't remember when I last time actually bought a gift bag!

Of course they aren't always suitable so I have made some gift bags out of gift paper too and I also have couple rolls of tapestry (for the doll house but it might not need all of it...) that I have used. For example I made one for the baby gifts recently.

It is only natural that my answer to this challenge is gift bags out of scrap fabrics!

You need just some fabrics and thread, ribbon or something like it.

The red one is from my dad, it is very thick, probably meant for furniture some 20 years ago, green was left over from making advent calendars couple years back and the grey is from making a dress to my friend over 5 years ago. Some ribbon and woollen yarn.

And I just realised that I actually remember where my scrap fabric is from, should I be worried...?

Sewing is simple and nothing new there but here is a short tutorial just in case.

Cut rectangular parts on fold (becomes the bottom), longer than what they are wide. The longer they are, the deeper is the bag, naturally. Sew the sides, box the corners (optional).

Sew the thread/yarn/ribbon on the wrong side of the bag top. I used narrow zig zag so they would actually stay on. I folded the yarn double to prevent it from getting loose.

Sew the top. Leave the handles under the seam, fold over it and stitch over.

Done! So easy that there really is no excuse to buy any if you have suitable fabric on hand. Then you can just hope that the bag is actually saved and re-used. Maybe add a small tag asking to re-use the bag wouldn't be a bad idea?

How to sew with twin needle and get the best result

This is a guide to getting better result with twin needle, also known as double needle. I happened to read a blog post about using twin needle because it was recommended by a page on Facebook that I'm following. I checked if there was anything new, but there wasn't, not in that sense. New thing that I learned was that maybe sewing with twin needle isn't as usual as I have learned to think. I checked Pinterest and found several pins about the topic, I read about 10 and only one mentioned briefly why twin needle is such a good thing and none of them mentioned what makes it so. I have at least 5 blog posts waiting to be finished with pictures and everything and I'm writing something unplanned. Why? Because I got so annoyed by the blog post about using twin needle that I just had to. That post included one mistake and the other posts I read had the same mistake. Someone has to correct it.

The needle I'm talking about looks like this:

I have had the education of a seamstress but in our school we rarely used the knit fabrics, they were considered as easy choice. The main focus was in other clothing fabrics, drawing patterns, design your own wardrobe etc. I remember we did one t-shirt with knit fabric, just to know what it is like and I remember one sentence about twin needle by my teacher and that was something like "It is good to use twin needle with knit fabric." Why? That wasn't explained. We only used the school's industrial coverlock (I only now realise how cool that was!) to finish the t-shirts and that was it. It was only after I had kids that the topic came up again. After all, the kids' clothes are usually made with knit fabrics, they are comfortable, they are nice and stretchy so you can move with them freely. I only had that one sentence in my head about using twin needle but couldn't see why I would buy a specific needle to make two stitches next to each other when I can use the regular ones I already have and use zig zag? And now, after all this rambling we get to the point.

The stitch with twin needle stretches. Even if my kids pull their t-shirts over their heads and stuck their elbows under the shirts, they will just stretch and won't break. Of course, you want to check the threads you are using, if they are poor quality or very thin, they will break, no matter what. Zig zag stretches too but the twin stitch gives the shirt whole more professional look.

And now, finally to the guide itself to the secrets of twin needle.

First, choose your needle based on the fabric you are going to sew. Sharp one to woven fabrics, ballpoint for knit fabrics. Believe me, it makes a difference. They are available in different sizes based on the needle size and also the width between the needles. I usually use the one with 4mm width.

Second, you need to have two sewing threads. To change the look you can easily use two different colours for both stitches but if you prefer not to and don't own two of each colour, use your bobbins!

The first tip was found in other blog posts too, but I will include here to keep things simple. Place the threads so that they unwind in the opposite directions; the other one counter-clockwise the other one clockwise.

When threading your sewing machine for twin needle, handle the two threads like they would be one through the last hoop:

This style works for me but if you have a sewing machine with one hoop like me and have problems with your twin needle stitch, try this:

The other thread goes under the hoop,the other one over it. This, like unwinding them to opposite directions, prevents tangling. If you have own hoops for two needles, you don't have this problem.

When you start sewing, make sure your thread tails are long and stay out of the way, better grab them and hold them back for couple stitches. No back stitches! To get the best result, use long stitch. My sewing machines max stitch is 4mm, I use that. Also, be careful with pulling the fabric, too much pulling or too sharp turn and you might just have a broken needle.

The stitch looks like this:

I have four different stitches, each has different settings and they all look the same on the right side. But... on the back side:

Number 1 is sewn using the overall setting of my sewing machine. The needle threat's tension is somewhere in the middle and so is the bobbin. When you see something like this, your first thought probably is that you have to increase the tension of the needle thread, you do that and you get the result of number 2.

Now to the thing that got me so annoyed in the beginning is right here with the picture above. Each and every one of the blog posts I found accepted that the twin needle stitch looks like number 1 on the wrong side. Possibly number 2. Like I said, it is quite brief time that I have been sewing with knit fabrics, but I have used twin needle so much that it has become obvious what it should look like and what the standard is. Standard isn't number 1 or number 2, it hardly is number 3 and number 4 comes close, it isn't perfect but good enough for me.

How did I do it then? You can increase the tension of the needle threat as much as you please but it only gets you to number 2. Take your bobbin out in it's case:

Unscrew the little screw counter clockwise just a millimeter or so and try again. This took me to number 3, if you aren't happy with it, unscrew it a bit more and now you should have something similar as in number 4! And make sure your needle threat has the maximum tension.

My sewing machine is ancient and I suspect the tension isn't as good as it has been some 30 years ago, that's why I accept the number 4 in the picture above but I have seen twin needle stitches that look better than mine so just try it with your sewing machine!

Why am I so mad (because that's what I'm) about this? That's because someone obviously popular had written a post about useful topic, saying it was complete guide and it was spread on popular Facebook page and then it has this serious flaw. But it does look the same on the right side? Yes it does. I can use different colour bobbin thread and don't mind it because it doesn't show to the right side but that's just that, colour. Now we are talking about making a seam that actually lasts. Numbers 1-3 will break if stretched and you have to sew them again. Number 4 stretches nicely and lasts much better.

The twin needle stitch is there because it stretches so don't make it un-stretchy!

When you are finished, don't use back stitch, in worst scenario you will end up breaking your needle or in second worst scenario, get tangled threads.

My way to finish the seam is like this:

I carefully pull the bobbin thread so it pulls the needle thread loops, I pull them through:

Sorry about that, this seam is number 1 but you get the point...

Then I make a knot and use needle to hide the thread ends under the stitch:

Here is also a close up to twin needle stitch that has real zig zag on the wrong side. A stitch like this won't get bulky on the right side either but is nice and flat.

A close up from one of the shirts I made for my kids:

I use twin needle for hemming but also for finishing the neckline.

If you have any questions or something to add I have forgotten, feel free to connect! And as always you can pin my pics, share them on social media any way you wish. And new thing too, you can now follow my blog on Instagram! I share there more than just my blog post pics and you can find my blog as upcyclelina_blog.

Toy bag for car trip, travelling with kids part 1

The summer is here, at least in the form of holidays, if not for the weather. After last couple days of having warm enough to be able to go swimming the temperatures dropped to 10-15 degrees! During night even 0-5 degrees. But when the sun is high up, night is short and day is long Finnish people wake up from their winter sleep and start moving around. Someone has said that the whole Finland goes crazy when it is summer and I agree. There are summer events in every village, happenings and festivals for all day of the summer. The summer is so short that you feel like you can't waste any of it. It also includes usually lot of driving when you "have to" go to grandparents, summer cottage, zoo, amusement parks etc. In our case that means 3-4 hours drive quite often. Time to invent something to make the trips more fun by having something for the kids to do.

First part to ease these trips was make a toy bag for car trip, upcycled of course. Our kids like to take small toys to play with and they are usually quite well entertained just with those but there is a problem that I think almost any family knows. I mean of course falling toys. What is more frustrating than drop that favourite toy you just needed to the floor and the adults won't stop because of that? And for the adults the screaming that results is also frustrating, annoying... you get the point. I thought that we needed toy bags for the kids that won't fall and will prevent the toys falling too. It won't stop them falling while played but I hope it helps.

The toy bag has one fixed strap and the other one is adjustable so that it can be attached to the front seat. The kids have small tables attached to the front seats so the bags will rest on those, they don't have to hang anywhere. Attaching it to the car seat prevents the whole bag falling to the floor. I also used some cotton wool sheet to make it stand so it would actually keep the toys inside. It is also rather low (10cm high) for easier to reach and open on the top.

This upcycled toy bag is fairly easy to do but I wrote a short tutorial. I also realized that the tutorial I used to make quilt work bag doesn't want to be found anymore. The site directs me to Finnish version and that doesn't have the blog where I read the tutorial before. No matter what I do, use incognito-mode, switch the language to English on my browser, use my phone etc., it always directs me to the Finnish site. Quite annoying, actually. If I wanted the Finnish site, I would like to choose it myself, thank you very much. I then tried to find another tutorial describing how to make a bottom like this but couldn't find any. Many messenger bags are made using this kind of bottom but the tutorials I found were something like "assemble the bag, including bottom", not really helpful, right? Therefore I will make a tutorial for sewing the bottom later, now everything else.

I made two, of course, both upcycled old curtains that my mum found from eco-center for free!

I'm not surprised that the pink-blue was left to the eco-center, it isn't quite that fashionable now and I found couple small stains in it too. Nothing that matters for me though. The Moomin-curtain is more surprise to me. Only "problem" with it is that is sewn to go around the window, i.e. it has top- and side curtains all together. It isn't supposed to cover the window, it has been apparently used to frame the window. Quite nice for kids' room but I can understand why it might have been difficult to sell and thus ended up to the eco-center. The fabric is good quality and there is lots of it, so good for me someone discarded it!

First I cut the pieces.

From the main fabric one piece for the bottom and the other sides of the bag, two pieces to longer sides, two pockets and three pieces for straps; one short (8cm for this bag), one long (adjustable) and one shorter (fixed strap).

From lining: one part covering the bottom and two sides, two separate pieces to longer sides and out of cotton wool sheet 2 small pieces (for this bag 10cm x 12 cm, height x depth) and 2 longer pieces (10cm x 22cm, height x width). The cotton wool sheet is from old blanket and the lining old sheet.

Fold and iron the straps, sew with long stitch. Fold and iron the pockets, sew the top.

To give more support for toy bag I added extra layer to the bottom. Cut twice the size of the bottom, add seam allowances and sew the long sides. Iron the seam allowances open, turn.

And now the bag starts forming out fast. Baste the cotton wool-pieces to lining, sew as edge as you can so that these stitches will be inside the seam allowances. Attach the pockets to the lining. Assemble the lining and then the main body parts. Remember to leave turning gap on the lining! Tutorial with pictures coming later.

Attach the longest strap to the slider and you should have something like this:

Attach the straps to the exterior of the bag leaving the stitches under seam allowance. Slide the shortest strap through metallic ring, fold half and baste to its place, slide the longest strap through that same ring, through the slider and baste to its place. Like this:

Now your toy bag for car trip is almost finished! Place the exterior inside the lining right sides facing and sew around.

When I was making this first bag I didn't have my Wonder clips yet so I had to use pins but with Wonder clips it is this easy:

I noticed that if you iron the cotton wool sheet, it becomes stiffer. With the first bag I didn't realize this and it was a bit too soft and I thought if I should have added some other interfacing. That bag I ironed of course but more steamed the fabric than actually pressed because I didn't want to press the cotton wool. With the second bag I pressed accidentally and it turned out to be good accident! At this point I had the pink-blue bag ready and I took it, pressed all around it and had a much nicer looking bag! Sometimes accidents are for good.

If you, unlike me, remembered to leave the turning gap, you can just turn the bag around. If not, you have use for your seam ripper.

Iron, again. Cut a piece out of cartoon, the size of the bottom of your bag, put inside the bottom pocket made earlier, close it and put it inside your bag. It doesn't have to be attached, it can just be there. And you are done! The pink-blue bag has part of its lining fold over to the right side. I hope I could say this is exactly how I meant it to be but... Yeah, I cut the main fabric a bit too low and as the bag is quite low already, I didn't want to make any lower so I cut the lining higher and ironed it so that part of the lining is showing. Nice detail, I think. Also, sew some stitches on the corners on top of the seams and also stitch over the straps to secure them properly.

Then to details. Little My and these small electric guys are looking from the pockets:

The toy bag is stiff enough to stand on its own.

Close up from the straps:

I certainly hope this toy bag helps with the car trips! In any case, the kids both agree that these are great bags anyway. They like bags, there are always couple bags filled with toys or clothes. I was once wondering where some clothes are, there were couple pairs of pants and few shirts missing from the laundry and where they were? In a bag under the bed, I only found them after weeks. I had lifted that bag, I had seen it many times but didn't realize to watch inside! Also, very good use for upcycled curtains!

I didn't include any measurements, would you like them to be added? I scribbled something down, cut something, changed my mind, wrote over it, cut again, changed something etc. so my notes aren't quite that clear at the moment. But if you need those I can try and decipher my notes and add them here.

Upcyclelina's page on Facebook has a folder called "Second hand store finds", go and check it out! These curtains were there and I will add more as I find more. Also check my Pinterest boards, there is one about travelling with kids and it might give you a clue what I'm up to next. One of the boards is a group board (Suomalaiset käsityöblogit, i.e. Finnish handcraft blogs), join it or start following it if you find it interesting!