Stroller Re-Cover (AKA the DAMN Stroller)

I've done enough strollers re-covers now that when my sister-in-law asked me to work on hers I didn't hesitate.  It was a Graco that she'd bought second hand and was now using it on her second child and it was in really terrible condition.  Apparently I should have been more careful to look at what I was volunteering for.  Never have I come closer to failure than this project and it wasn't long before it was deemed the DAMN stroller.


You'd never tell by the after pictures though because it turned out so well.  The fit of the new cover is amazing, despite the near disaster.

Take a look at this lovely before pic.  Notice how faded the front of the sunshade is?  This needed a make-over almost as badly as the Navy Stroller.

Every stroller is different so there isn't really a tutorial, more like a process. Here's how my process goes.

1. Break the stroller down into sections.  So the sunshade is one section, the basket underneath is one section, the cushion is one section and the lining fabric is another.  If you're lucky the stroller will be in decent condition and you'll just need to re-cover the cushion and the sunshade, those are ideal and a lot less work.  Whatever the condition of your stroller you're going to work on one section at a time, so any time you're overwhelmed you just need to remind yourself that your current project is your one small section, forget about the big project and focus on the small.
2. I always start on the sunshade so I'll use that section as my example.  You're first going to figure out how to remove the sunshade from the stroller, it's usually held on with 4 screws.  Once it's removed you can slide the shade off of the metal supports, there are usually two.  Put them aside for later.
3. This next step is the most tedious, you're going to carefully unpick all the parts to your sunshade so you can use them as your pattern.  It's important not to forget how the pieces you take apart went together because you need to be able to put them back, I find it helpful as one piece is removed to pin it back in place with one or two pins just so I don't forget how it's constructed.  Sunshade's also normally use two thin plastic supports, as you remove these put them aside for later.  
4. Once your pieces are unpicked you can unpin one piece at at time and use it as a pattern to cut out your new fabric.  Once it's cut out I pin the old piece back where it was (not taking any chances with my memory here).  A tip, those two plastic pieces that were removed will need casings to put them back in and that fabric should really be cut on the bias to make it look smoother, I always use bias tape or piping with the cord removed.  Makes your job easier and you want a contrasting fabric anyway.
5. Once your pieces are all cut out of your fabric you can use your old pinned together mess (it's now a mess by the way) to see how you sew everything back together.
6. Add your two plastic supports back in and finish all your raw edges off with some sort of binding.  I like to re-use the original just because you need so much but if you re-use the original keep in mind that you should stretch it while you're sewing it back on or you'll run out.  You could also use twill tape, nylon webbing or bias tape.  I've used all three and twill tape is my favourite and I think the easiest to work with.

As for fabric amounts you'll have to try and figure that out on your own stroller but to give you an idea here's what I used on this last stroller. 

• 1 meter of the stripe  (For you American's a meter is 39")
• 1 1/4 meter of the flower
• 4 meters of plain brown broadcloth (I always double broadcloth because it's so thin, I really needed one more meter of the brown though, I ended up taking a chunk from my stash to finish)
• 12 meters of twill tape (I hardly had any left)
• This is the first stroller I've done with mesh, I happened to have a mesh laundry bag from the dollar store that I'd used on a previous project and it worked great.
• Also, if you're going to replace the backing and the basket underneath you'll probably need to replace some pound on snaps.

So why was this project so difficult?  As I mentioned in my steps above, the cushion and the backing fabric are normally separate but that wasn't the case on this one, they were attached.  That meant I had to sew together all these strange pieces for the backing and then put right sides together and flip the entire thing.  I hope it sounds complicated because it really was!  In the end I won though even if it brought me near tears.  I actually think the fit on this stroller is better than some I've done in the past so the difficulty ended up being worth it.

Okay enough talking, more pictures!

I think the pop of yellow on the cushion is perfect and I love how comfy it looks.

I particularly love this shot. That really washed out fabric is supposed to be dark navy blue, and I love that you can see the holes in this one.  There were quiet a lot of holes (anywhere there were holes I re-enforced my fabric to hopefully make it a little more durable).

 I love that in the after you can see how neatly everything is secured.

One last picture where you can really see the cushion attached to the lining.

  Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, It's Sew for You,  Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello, The CrEaTiVe CraTe

Jenn's Car Seat

Did you see yesterday's post about the stroller?  And you came back to see part two?  In case you missed part one I needed a stroller and car seat for my sister.  I knew I'd re-cover it so I bought a used one and ended up getting the set for $15 since her cat had kittens in the stroller.  I cleaned up the stroller, re-covered it and it looks amazing.


Once the stroller was done I moved on to the car seat.  It was definitely more complicated and included some small pieces and then I ran out of fabric.  I bought more fabric, finished the job and came up with something I'm really happy with.

Remember how it started?  Faded, plaid, gender neutral and what's with the dorky animals?

I took the seat apart and used the pieces for a pattern.  It was my first time re-covering a bucket car seat like this and I think my next one will be even better but this one is super cute.  Here's a side shot so you can really see the sunshade.

And here is the set, a before and some after's.

 I love that this little lady has a custom stroller and I can't wait to meet her.
 
Allright, I've had a couple comments concerning the safety of my car seat and so I thought I'd address that a little.  My car seat cover is exactly the same as the original, I used the same batting, the backing fabric and all the same supports.  The fabric thickness is the same so I didn't add any bulk or anything that would shift around the baby.  It will perform just like the original seat.  I understand that some people won't agree but I'm am completely confident in the safety of this seat.




Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello

Jenn's Stroller

Remember the stroller/car seat combo I bought for my sister back in July?  The one for $15 that the cat had kittens in (still so gross), the stroller just waiting to be re-covered?  Well the worst happened and my sister miscarried.  We were all so sad about it that the stroller went into my parents basement out of site.  I'm happy to report that not only is my sister expecting again but she's having a girl, her first after 3 boys.  To say we're excited is an understatement and Mom and I went and found some adorable pink fabric, no gender neutral here. 


Today we're going to look at the stroller and tomorrow you can see the car seat.

Here's the finished stroller and a reminder of what I started with.

I can't really tell you how gross this stroller was with a very pink kitty birth stain over most of the cushion.  I threw it in the wash and then Proxi'ed it multiple times and was really surprised just how clean it came.  I didn't think I'd be able to use any of the batting but it all came clean enough to use except a little bit of binding that I could easily replace with bias tape.  

Once the cushion was clean I started in on the sunshade.  I had decided to keep all of the browny-beige fabric but it all felt so dirty I wanted to wash every scrap of fabric, it's a good thing I had decided that because it turns out the fabric was all one big piece so it all had to come off anyway.  Once I took off a very large pile of screws I was left with this.

I washed everything, replaced the ugly, faded plaid with the new flowers and then re-attached it all.  The cushion took a lot more time with a ton of unpicking but as usual the end result was worth the trouble (sorry there's no photo of the cushion on it's own).


This project came together surprisingly easy with very few problems, just the way I like them to go.


Here are a bunch more photos just because it's so beautiful.

So come back tomorrow, see the other half.



Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello

Baby Bassinet

My friend Jody contacted me with a project, she has a new little girl on the way and a really ugly bassinet to put her in.  She wondered if I could do something about that.

It started like this, very navy, quilted and ruffled.  There was a ton of fabric and teddy bears everywhere.

I replaced the ruffles with clean, crisp pleats, got rid of the teddy bears and updated the colour.

I made a satin mattress cover, I've heard it helps with babies bald spots and it makes the entire thing look luxurious.

This also happens to be the project that was more frustrating than any other.  I took the original cover apart and used it as a pattern for the new pieces.  I got them all put back together and then tried to put it on the frame only to find that it was way too small.  My pieces were exactly the same size as the original, the original wasn't stretchy or cut on the bias but somehow mine still wouldn't fit.  I ended up having to replace some of my pieces and add about 5 inches.  I don't understand why the difference but in the end I made it work.

The change is huge, Jody is thrilled with it and it fits perfectly in the baby's room.

Linking To
Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello

Rainforest Bouncy Chair (2 of 3)

I mentioned last week that I'm working on 3 different bouncy chair re-covers, you can see the first one I finished here.  This is the second and this chair turned out to be significantly more difficult than I was prepared for.  It's a different design that the other chairs I've re-covered (you can see them here and here).  It's finished but it sure tried my patience.  The toy bar on this one is different, not fabric covered and it plays music, vibrates and has lights.  I thought I'd stick with the jungle theme and bought some cute giraffe print to go with it.  The brown in the centre is soft, minky dot.  I think a baby will be snug and cozy in this chair.

Here's the before

Big improvement hey?  And some more before and after shots

Bouncy Chair Re-Cover - 1 of 3

There are lots of pregnant ladies around me right now and most of them are family.  With pregnant ladies come fun baby gifts and since there are lots I figured I'd get a head start on some baby gifts.  The best gift I was given with Catie was a bouncy chair so that's a gift I really like to give to others, they're really ugly though so I like to re-cover them first.  Over the Christmas season I bought 3, second hand bouncy chairs so now the re-covering starts.  I've finished one of the three so take a look and stay tuned for two more (I don't know the gender of any of these babies so they'll all be gender neutral).

This chair is the exact same style as the other two chairs I've done here, and here.  Since I've done it twice already it was a pretty quick project with no problems.

Here's how it started.

And a photo with the toy bar removed.

This chair vibrates and plays music and I think the Mommy will be very happy with it, hopefully she loves it as much as I loved mine.

High Chair Re-Cover

Some time ago I put out a call for projects because I didn't have anything to work on.  One of the responses was from a friend Carla who has a high chair she wanted re-covered.  A high chair is something I've thought about doing many times but we use one of those little clip-ons that doesn't have a cover so I didn't have a chair to work on, Carla's was the perfect opportunity.  I picked up a sample of vinyl from Fabricland to test sew and made some passport covers, confident that I could work with the new fabric I gathered supplies, Carla brought over her chair and went on vacation.  She'll come home to this beauty.

Here is the before.  I don't understand why all baby items must be so cutesy.

I was surprised at just how nervous I was to work on this project, I've done a ton of re-covering but when it came time to cut I was really hesitant.  Most of that came from this project having very unique challenges, mostly being I couldn't use any pins (I'd make holes in the vinyl) and I couldn't iron anything (melting!).  I solved the pins by using binder clips and tape and just did without the iron.

I started like usual by taking the old cover apart.  I wasn't willing to unpick all the button holes (where the straps go) so I cut around them.  Even though the old cover looks like it's three different pieces it was really just one that was painted.  Since I wanted to use solid black with the damask I had to do some careful piecing and that part worked even better than I'd hoped.  I also hadn't bought a long enough piece of the damask vinyl (I thought it was two) so I pieced it together lining up the pattern, I'm pretty pleased with how well it lined up and unless you look really close you can't even see where my seam is.

I added thick piping to the top (I had to make my own because both fabric stores I went to were out) and I put bias tape all the way around.  I hadn't planned on replacing the straps so I put them back on and it looked like this (except I'd already taken one back off in this picture).

I figured since there was navy blue on the frame I'd leave the navy blue straps to tie the two together but they looked awful!  The cover was classy and sleek and then you had these ugly blue straps.  I zipped off the Fabricland, bought new black strapping and replaced them.  If I'd had a larger selection of vinyl I would have chosen something to co-ordinate with the blue but with very limited options the plastic on the frame will just have to be ignored.

Here's what the back of the cover looked before

and after

I managed to hit some good sales so this entire project ended up costing $11.  Not too shabby for a piece of furniture that can now be displayed in her kitchen with pride.  Doesn't hurt that the high chair was second hand to begin with (I think it was even free).

One more before and after

It seems this is just like the strollers I cover, looking at the finished project I think, "well that wasn't too tough" but I distinctly remember hating lots of parts of this process.  The end justifies the means though and I'd do another in a heartbeat.

Sorry there isn't a real tutorial for this but being my first time I certainly wasn't ready to teach others.  I am more than happy to answer questions if you have them though.


Don't forget to check out my New Food Friday linky where we try out new recipes together.

Baby Stroller Re-Cover

My friend Teddi called me up and asked if I was interested in working on a project for her, and was I ever.  This little baby stroller is adorable.  Not a little umbrella stroller like we're used to seeing, this stroller was very similar in design to the full size navy stroller I covered here.

It started out like this and it was in pretty rough shape.  The fabric was torn in a bunch of places and it was really dirty and just plain boring.

I took the old cover apart and used those pieces as my pattern.  I then cut pieces out of my new fabric and put them back together.  The solid pink is broadcloth that I doubled up and I finished all the edges with narrow pink bias tape, it's secured to the frame with heavy duty snaps.  The original had a seat belt for dolls but it closed with D-rings.  I can't really imagine a child being able to use D-rings so I replaced them with the kind of clip you'd use on a high chair.  I know all my nieces love clipping and un-clipping those so I think it's a nice improvements.  I think this stroller is adorable so I'm going to show you a bunch of after photos.

I put a doll in this one so you can see the size and how the belt clips.

Love how the handle changes position.

Now all I need to do is find another one of these for Catie because she loves it.  She won't stop pushing it around and she keeps putting random things in it.

Car Seat Re-Cover 3

If you've been reading along you remember when I put out a call for projects as I'd run out of fun things to do.  KD responded with just what I was looking for, a car seat re-cover.  I've done two of these already that you can read about here and here and I enjoyed them both.  They're a challenge and they're difficult but the end result is well worth all the energy, don't you think?

KD handed me her car seat

along with these fabrics.

There are three sock monkey fabrics and the bundle of polka dots is handmade bias tape (that I was so grateful for, it was perfect for piping).  I'm sure KD would have been fine if I didn't use everything she gave me but they all looked so cute together so I fit them all in.

I'm not going to go into too much detail on this project because it's just like the last one and I detailed it pretty well over here.  Instead I'm just going to show you lots of pictures.

Hopefully KD will forgive me for mentioning that this was the dirtiest car seat I've ever seen and the cover looked practically new after a spin through the washing machine, I almost could have stopped there.  It was also a new challenge because it used piping.  At first I didn't think it would be a big deal but it made the whole thing a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, certain pieces couldn't be assembled until the piping was put on but the piping couldn't be put on until another piece was assembled... tricky but do-able.  In the photos the piping is tough to see but it looks so cute, here's a closer picture.

Here's a closer photo to show all the fabrics together.

I added the banana strap covers but they can be removed if she doesn't want them.

Catie is going to be very sad when this seat gets delivered because she loves it!  She sits and laughs and gets up and sits back down, over and over.  She would get very angry when I was doing fittings and wouldn't let her play.

For all the before and after lovers out there...

I'm going to toot my own horn for a minute here, I did a couple of really smart things on this project and I'm going to tell you about all of them because I'm so pleased with the results.

Starting at the top and working down, the banana piece was supposed to be two pieces sewn together since one of them has much more padding for the headrest.  It made a lot more sense for me to use one piece so the pattern carries on.   Looks cute and doesn't change the functionality.

The side of the carseat has a tiny label telling you how to use the lap seat belt, that got unpicked and re-attached to the new cover (sewing is all about the details).

I added small little straps (they're hidden underneath) to keep those armrest pieces from being pulled up.  They should stay on nice and snug now.

The bottom of the car seat has holes that lined up with holes in the fabric where I assume you could attach the two pieces together somehow.  I've seen this on every car seat cover I've done but I've never actually seen the fabric attached or any hardware to attache it.  I sewed a strap underneath the fabric that ties through those holes to keep the cover nice and snug so it can't be lifted.

Okay, horn tooting over.


So KD now has a custom and improved car seat cover that fits her personality and will hold her little guy comfortably, I hope she's as happy with the results as I am.

The drought of projects has also ended and my list is piling up so there should be a lot more fun posts to come, sorry for the dry spell.



I'll be linking this project up to these great parties.