Being Genevieve: Car Seat Canopy

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Here is how to make one of those cute car seat canopies to keep your little one protected from the weather and unwelcome germs.

What you need:

1-1/2 yards of cotton or flannel fabric for BACK

1-1/3 yards of cotton or flannel for TOP

4-1/4 yards of RIBBON

5-1/2 yards RICK-RACK

Buttons or Flowers for Straps

Sew-On Velcro

Fabric Marking Pen

Cutting fabric:

(Pre-wash, dry and iron all fabric!!!)

Top and Back. . .

Cut 35" wide x 34" long out of your TOP fabric. Then cut 2 strips 4-1/2" x 35" from the BACK fabric. Cut 35" wide x 42" long out of your BACK fabric.

If not piecing the top. . .

Cut the TOP and BACK 35'' wide x 42" long.

If fabric has a directional pattern, make sure to cut it so it goes in the right direction (you may need extra fabric). If you are piecing the top, like mine make sure the finished dimensions of the top are still 35" x 42".

Straps. . .

Cut 2 pieces 6-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of the TOP fabric.

Cut 2 pieces 2-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of the BACK fabric.

If not piecing straps. . .

Cut 2 pieces 4-1/2" x 9-1/2" out of BACK and then cut 2 of the same size out of TOP.

Putting it together:

***All seams are 1/2 inch.***

Straps:

Place right-sides together and sew. Then do the other side. Repeat for both straps.

Flip right-side out and iron.

Fold ends in 1/2 inch and iron a crease. Do for both sides. Repeat for the other strap.

DO NOT SEW THIS CLOSED YET

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon each measuring 9-1/2 inches long. Place ribbon on the seams.

Pin in place. Tuck in the ends of the ribbon and pin.

(This is why you havent sewn the ends closed yet.)

Sew the ribbon on by going down BOTH SIDES of the ribbon as I have done here.

Please take your time on this, it moves/bunches easily!!!

Sew down both pieces of ribbon, on both sides of the ribbon. Repeat for the other strap.

Now do some topstitching on the sides of the straps (just for looks).

I like the double seam look so I do a 1/4 inch seam and then go back and do an 1/8 inch seam, to give it a double needle look. Or you can just use a double needle.

Now pin and sew the ends of the straps closed. Repeat for both straps.

Time for the velcro.

I cut mine to be the same length as my button so the stitching could easily be hidden under the button.

The first velcro to attach is where the button will be sewn on.

I placed mine 1/2 inch from the end of the strap. Repeat for other strap.

The next velcro is up to you.

I wrapped mine on the car seat and placed a pin where the top over lapped the other end.

Measured down 1/2 inch from the pin (that is how far in the velcro on the other end is sewn) and pin the velcro in place.

(Mine was placed 3/4 inch from the end of the strap.)

Now sew the buttons on top, to hide the stitching from the velcro.

Straps are done!

Main Body:

Place the 2 long strips on the top and bottom of the TOP fabric (right-sides together), pin and sew.

Iron seams open.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon both measuring 35 inches. Place, pin, and sew on the top and bottom seams.

*Topstitch on both sides of the ribbon just as you did for the straps.*

I now place the TOP fabric and the BOTTOM fabric right-sides together.

Grab a big bowl and trace with marking pen a rounded corner on all 4 corners.

(You may notice I have an extra seam toward the end on the polka-dot fabric, that will mostly be cut off with the rounded corner. I cut my fabric incorrectly and had to piece this together. Yours should not have this.)

Now cut all the corners following your markings.

Fold the TOP fabric together to find center and iron a crease (crease should go from front to back).

Then cut up the crease 19-1/2 inches to make front slit.

Front slit is optional. You can just skip this step if you don't want a slit.

Place TOP and BACK fabrics right-sides together and cut the slit up the BACK fabric so that the top and back fabrics both have an identical slit.

Pin together.

Begin placing the rick-rack in the slit.

(I had my rick-rack poke 1/4 inch out of the seam, just like you see below.)

When you come to the corner on the bottom of the slit, turn rick-rack like so and pin in place.

Continue pinning all the way around until you reach where you began, the other side of the slit.

I measured as I went to make sure all my rick-rack was poking out 1/4 inch.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon each measuring 10 inches long. Burn or seal the ends of all 4 ribbon pieces.

*This ribbon is for tying the slit closed.*

Now you need to pin the ribbon in place.

I measured up 6 inches from the bottom of the slit and fed the ribbon in between both fabrics, next to the rick-rack, until the ribbon was lined up exactly with the raw edges of the 2 fabrics.

I then repeated for the other side of the slit so that these 2 ribbon pieces would be at the exact same height to tie the slit closed.

Now measure down 6 inches from the top of the slit, on both sides, and do the same thing.

(I should have taken more pictures for this step ... below is what the finished product will look like. Look at the white ribbon.)