Thursday, August 19, 2010

Car Seat Re-cover

I'm so excited this post is being featured on Polly Want a Crafter, it's exciting to be among such talent.  Since I finished this car seat re-cover I attempted a second with even greater results, you can check it out here.

It's time for Catie to be in a forward facing car seat so I picked up the one that Mom had saved for me from my nephew.  It was functional, it does what it should it was just so ugly, and well used (dirty).  I gave it a major face lift and it's like I have a brand new car seat.


This is the project I made the bias tape for, the sad part is now that it's finished I think a solid black would have looked even better.  I'm certainly not changing it though.

Here's what I started with.


It has these flaps that fold over the armrests and they were attached with the most useless elastics.  The fabric ALWAYS sat like this, in stead of the above.  I figured now was the time to make improvements.


I took the thing apart, cut out new pieces and put it back together.  I made the armrests longer and then sewed velco to the underside on the end.  Using sticky back  velco I attached the other side underneath the plastic so the fabric is held nice and snug, like so.


Now the fabric is pulled nice and tight.

I also made seat belt covers because they rub on Catie neck, she got an ugly red mark on her neck one day.  I used Make It And Love It's tutorial for the covers.  Basically you make up two little pot holders and add velcro.

See?  Potholders.

You can tell that I did my corners different for the two, one of them look all nice and rounded and the other is pointy.  I prefer the rounded corners but they just took so darn long and once you fold it you can't even see them so I got lazy on the second one.  I also made some black bias tape but since I needed so little I just cut two strips off the bias and sewed them together.


Here's one more before and after





**Disclaimer, I know some people don't support messing around with car seats.  I get it, you have valid points but I'm confident in the safety of my car seat.  Let's leave it at that. **



Thanks so much for featuring me!
Keeping It Simple





59 comments:

KD said...

Your amazing!! I want my car seat redone but i lack the confidence to do it! Your awsome!

Anonymous said...

You are VERY talented! You should start selling these things for sure:) Come to my "Restyle Your World" linky party on Monday...saying goodbye to summertime with a look at our fave summery projects, decorating, art, photography, crafting, etc.

Blessings,
Jen

Jolayne said...

It's gorgeous! I like the patterned bias tape.

Sharon@thisthriftyhouse said...

Oh Laura! This is my favorite recover job yet! I LOVE the fabric and you did such a nice job!! I love it as usual!

kati said...

LOVE IT!!!!

Found you from craftastical

Nikki said...

Wow! I'm impressed!

Kara @ Mine for the Making said...

Looks WAY better after you got ahold of it! Nice job! I would be so scared to venture there...lol

Kara @ Mine for the Making

Happy Mom's Daily said...

That is so unbelievable adorable!!! You must be incredible talented because it's just amazing! WELL DONE =)

Kaysi @ Keeping it Simple said...

I love this and so want to do it, thanks for the inspiration!!

Stacey said...

Cute! I have been trying to get the motivation to do mine, thanks for sharing!

Jen @ lil Mop Top said...

That turned out great! I would be so afraid if I took my cover apart I wouldn't get a 2nd one made and then I would have to buy a whole new seat! haha! :) You are brave...and talented!

Unknown said...

Can I be you when I grow up??? LOL Great job! :)

The Autocrat: Haley said...

You did a really great job! Looks totally fabulous!

Kara Henry said...

That is amazing! I'm brave, but probably not that brave! Looks so cute!

Thanks for linking up at Craftastical!

Liz said...

That really is adorable! Nice work!!!

I hope you'll come participate in my link party today! It runs all week so come back and add more BOY projects! All About The Boy @ The Nifty Nest!

Liz

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a great update! You did a wonderful job and I am going to show it to my daughter because her car seat could for sure use a face lift. Thanks for the inspiration!

EllensCreativePassage said...

Oh, my that is so cute now!! I think you did a great job and it looks so fresh and new for your baby girl. Wonderful....

Emily Thompson said...

That really is amazing! I saw you on motivate me MOnday, really super. It looks BETTER than the original!

Emma said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emma said...

Hi! I saw you over at Keeping it Simple.

Love, love, love this project. Great job. It's exactly what I need to do on my gross car seats. Thanks for the idea. (Now if I can just pull it off!)

Emma @ www.real-parenting-advice.com

Unknown said...

OH my GOSH, that is amazing!! Love, love, LOVE it! You are one talented lady : )

I am definitely a happy new follower. Have a blessed week, friend!

Love, Laura

brandi @ tales of a domestic goddess said...

LOOOVE IT! so did you just go over the other fabric??

i have a caitie too. =)

Laura said...

I wanted to remove the fabric but it was glued onto the foam so I had to just cover it. It makes the white not as crisp as I'd like but it's okay.

Andrea @ The Dawley Fam said...

Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! It looks really hard to do though, was it hard? I am having a baby in February and was given some brand new, but totally not my style, carseat and stroller. I was going to keep them, because... hello! They were free, but I am totally going to cover them now! Thanks for sharing, I'm your newest follower! ~Andrea
http://www.andreasattic-andrea.blogspot.com

Laura said...

It's time consuming and kind of finicky but not terribly hard. If you Xander than you can do it. Prepare yourself for the unlocking, it takes the longest.

Jill said...

WOW! This looks incredible! You have me inspired... if only I was attentive enough to detail to make it look so professional :)

Robin Ange said...

I love it! I really need to do this for my daughters car seat, but it just seems so daunting. Are you going to post a tutorial?

Matt said...

just curious about how much fabric you used to do this?...am hoping to do this to one of my carseats because it's pretty dirty...looooove how yours turned out!!
-heather

Laura said...

I bought half a meter for the bias tape and it was way too much. I bought a meter each of the other two patterns and I didn't have very much leftover. To determine how much I needed I measured the carseat from top to bottom following the groove of the seat. It was almost exactly 1 meter. I knew it would be wide enough for everything so I went with that and it worked really well.

Matt said...

awesome!!! thanks for the quick reply :)...very excited to make it!!
-heather

Anonymous said...

This looks so great! I love it and will be featuring it on my blog for my friday favorite tomorrow! It is darling!!

Amanda at everycraftyendeavor.com

Kathy said...

I am soo impressed! Would you consider selling them? how much would it take to make it worth your while?

Laura said...

I think unless you lived in the same city as me selling them would be really difficult to do. I use the old one as a pattern so you'd have to ship the carseat to me, that would be ridiculously expensive.

I guess you could just mail the cover but I'd have no way to test that it fit. Off the top of my head I'd probably charge $50 plus fabric to re-cover but like I said, I think it would be tricky.

Snyder Central said...

Very cute re-do. I'd love to re-do my son's, but I'm scared frankly. Maybe I'll start with my oldest son's booster seat instead. Less fabric, easier shapes, should be less to mess up, right?

Breathing In Grace said...

It looks soooo good!! Visiting you from Remodelaholic's Anonymous!!!

Nancy said...

I love it. I just pulled both the car seat and booster seat out of my car today so I can make them pretty! I hope mine look as good .

thenewwittys said...

AMAZING!

AUDRA said...

No way!!!
Outstanding! This is on my attempt list!

Unknown said...

This is simply awesome! I agree that you should start selling them. If you do, let me know. This is something that I would TOTALLY want. I'd make one myself but like another person said, I'd be scared that I wouldn't get it done & have to get a new car seat. haha... but def. let me know if you ever want to sale some! Thanks for sharing!! I'm following now:)

Chera Pierson said...

Thanks so much for this. I now have the confidence to redo my two carseats and a booster seat!

All Things Fee said...

Do you have any pictures of when you cut the original car seat apart, and how much fabric you added for seams?

I made a cover for mine and it doesnt fit right... Would love any help I could get to maybe try again...

allthingsfee@gmail.com

Laura said...

I didn't cut the original apart, I used a seam ripper and unpicked it. I've done another car seat re-cover since this post and I talk about the process a little more. There are a few more photos as well, you can check it out here http://laurathoughts81.blogspot.com/2010/10/car-seat-re-cover-2.html

Anonymous said...

You are awesome, and so I'm coming to you to ask...Do you have a tutorial on how to recover a highchair. I was giving one that the material is cracked and peeling on the top. My boy has now ripped it right open. I'd like to recover it, and thought that you could help.
Thanks,
Tana Cox
chillbabie@hotmail.com

Neil, Amy and The Girls said...

Wow, what an amazing transformation!

Bobbins said...

I love this post! My friend and I have been searching for this very thing. Only thing missing is a tutorial. Perhaps you just haven't posted it yet?? :)

angel said...

Wow... you said Fabricland you must live in Canada,

Libby said...

It looks stunning...and as a 'child restraint system' technician (I can tell you if you installed it correctly or not), since you just replaced the cover you didn't alter the seat. The only tricky part is the strap covers. Some manufacturers may claim you altered the car seat. My only concern is it being second hand--it's age and collision history. Hopefully it is within 10 years (the expiry date is on or near the sticker with the CSA symbol on it) and wasn't in a collision. Even at 30km/hr. with or without the child in it the car seat can be damaged.

I've attempted to cover my grandkid's highchair but it isn't a easy style but your velcro solution would work! Thanks!

Good work...

Deborah said...

I found you on Pinterest, This is so lovely....i repinned and I am now your newest follower. Follow back if you would like @ http://alwaystrying2try.blogspot.com/

Amy Savage said...

Pretty cool when I see one of my friends down here post something of yours on pinterest. When I clicked on it and saw it was your blogged I thought that was pretty sweet. Way to go! I can't wait to re-cover one of our car seats. I've been looking at it for some time now thinking I needed too. Thanks for the tute!

SheCraftZ said...

Hi :) i was wondering where do you sell them and also the cover for the chairs saucer ones.. plzzzz we want to buy hehehe!

SM Blogger said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

So Awesome Great job.. I have a page that I make The slip Cover. Thought you would like it. www.facebook.com/peekaboocovers

manoj singh said...

Car accessories give a finishing touch to the whole beauty and now its very easy to buy them earlier we get to shop them manually and that is also from a very small range of variety but now there are many online websites available which provides Car Accessories Online and ease of delivering them at your place.Car Cover

Unknown said...

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Amanda M. said...

Hi there! Great tutorial! I'm excited to try this for my soon coming nephew! Just wondering what type of fabric this is - knit, cotton, flannel, etc?! Thanks!!

Amccormick@gmail.com

jeremy said...

I personally like their looks.

Car Seat Covers

SM Blogger said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
an unexpected turn said...

This is super cute! Unfortunately it's very dangerous! The seat looks like it is close if not passed its expiration date, making it illegal and unsafe to use! Plus, any cover, strap cover, headrest that did not come with the car seat is not safe, and illegal to use as they are not flame resistant! please do not put a child in this!

Sharon Smith said...

Yesterday a visitor of my blog told me he tried to install the base for the infant car seat but he was not able to figure it out! And i recommended him to read Carseat . really this page is amazing for Car seat installation tips!
Thanks.