Stroller Re-cover, Take 3

I have a sister who's pregnant (hopefully it's common knowledge and I can post about it here), her youngest is old enough that they've long gotten rid of their stroller so she needed a new one.  I happen to be walking through the Salvation Army and saw one that would be perfect to re-cover but I was in a really big hurry so I left and sent Mom over to pick it up.  Sadly by the time she got there the next day the stroller I saw was gone and she came home with a different one.  I took one look and knew we were in trouble.  Here she is after all of my hard work which I'll explain in far more detail than you probably care about.

And how it looked when I got it.

The biggest problem with this beast is that a car seat will not clip onto it.  This is really the only problem that wasn't fixable.  We knew that this wouldn't work for Jenn and I thought we were just out the $20 Mom spent on her.  But then I gave her a push... she moves like a dream!  She has, like every other stroller, 4 wheels but the difference is that all 4 of them rotate.  There's no dragging two wheels while you wait for them to turn the right direction and it moves anywhere you want it to.  I currently have a cheap stroller and the difference was immediately noticeable.  The other feature I fell in love with is the handle, it rotates so your baby is either looking out at the road or looking out at you, I would love this feature.  Catie would have liked walks a lot more if she could have been looking at me.

These two features were enough that I figured I could re-cover it and sell it to hopefully cover our costs.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

There are usually 4 fabric parts to each stroller, a sunshade, a cushion, fabric covered supports for the cushion to sit on and a basket underneath.  My previous two strollers I re-covered the sunshade and the cushion and that was all it needed.  I of course planned on doing the same with this one.  We bought fabric (for 50% off) and then Mom brought me the stroller and I finally got a really good look at it.

She had obviously been kept outside for quite some time.  The fading in the fabric was the first thing I noticed, take a look at the edges of the photo below, nice and dark fabric where it was covered in a seam, the rest is faded from the sun .  No good.

I briefly considered trying to re-dye the fabric but that wouldn't fix the tears or the very worst part of this stroller... having been kept outside there were many remains of spider egg sacks... I know, so gross!  No one wants to put their baby in that so I went back to fabricland, bought more fabric (no longer 50% off) and about 30 heavy duty pound on snaps.

It was also incredibly filthy, there were leaves and rocks underneath the cushion and look at all the sand on the foot rest below.  The original fabric looked bad and felt just as bad.  I stripped it all off the frame (luckily it was all held on with either snaps or velcro) and gave the frame a good wash.

Eventually I ended up with this (this is pre-wash of course).

As usual, I unpicked the pieces, used them as patterns and cut out new fabric then re-assembled using the original binding.  I did make a few style changes, she was built in 1991 and apparently quilting was big back then because there is a very quilted feel to the entire stroller, especially the seat.  I knew I would replace the padded squares.  Because of the changes and my refusal to unpick the quilting I had to use my own quilt batting but I had some on hand.

So I re-sewed, I pounded on a TON of snaps (in the rain, the wind and a very mosquito infested night) and then I re-assembed only to discover that I'd put a piece on upside down.  This led to the post about postponing and after a weekend away I took on the task of unpicking and fixing my mistake.

The difference is staggering and I'm hoping someone will want to own her.  She's now so chic and stylish and just begging to be taken for a trip around the block.

The removal of the ruffle and the quilted squares really updates the look and I love the cheery yellow fabric.

This picture shows the handle in the second position and you can also see the window in the sunshade that closes with velcro.

See the nice big pocket on the back to hold anything you might need?  And the window flap is closed and lovely in this photo.  You can also see how nice and crisp and clean the basket underneath looks.  That would easily hold a diaper bag and a couple toys.

One more before and after.  I'm almost wishing I could keep her.

This is an old Avalon stroller but it's a model they don't make anymore.  Interested in owning?  Let me know and we can talk.

*Update*   The stroller sold and I was thrilled to hand it over to someone new


I'm so excited to be featured