Not so much in a "Oh, togetherness, how sweet" way.
More in a "keep the Gnome* from running off while Hollywood** is contained in the shopping cart" way.
Those who wear your babies with a wrap, congratulations. You have a coordination and skill level that I just cannot comprehend. I've tried, I've failed, I bought some SSC's.
I love the ease of SSC's. I don't look like a drunk string bean trying to put my kid on my back in an SSC. I do with a wrap, or a mei tai. My gateway SSC was a Snugli that I got second hand. Then I got another Snugli (again, second hand, remember the name of my blog?). Then I learned that those weren't the best, and I got an Ergo. My Ergo is beautiful, it is comfortable, but it is also too small for the Gnome. Then Kinderpacks entered my life. These are AMAZING. They are comfortable, there are a MILLION limited run prints. They have a cult-like following on Facebook. They are also pricey. Not wrap conversion Tula pricey, but close.
Of course, I bought 2.
Turns out, 2 is never enough.
Some enterprising people have started businesses creating covers for Kinderpacks and other SSC's. They do BEAUTIFUL work, and this post is not meant to cause any competition for them. This post is born from the need to get a cover very quickly, and very cheaply. You can easily use a T-shirt to slipcover a SSC, but I didn't have an appropriate shirt on hand. I did, however, have a lot of fabric.
So, without further ado, here is how to make a reversible cover for your SSC. Part one will be pattern drafting, part 2 will be assembly.
* Dear Son #2. He looked like a garden gnome when he was born.
** Dear Son #1. Typical Hollywood baby. He would even pose for the camera. At birth.
Materials For Pattern drafting
Foam Board
Marker
Pins
Sewing gauge or small ruler or nifty dual tracing wheel thingy
Scissors
1/2 yard of muslin or the like (optional, for making a fabric pattern)
Instructions
This is loosely based on instructions I once saw for "cloning" a well fitting bra. I think it was a sewing magazine sometime between 2000 and 2006. The carrier I'm using is a Toddler Kinderpack. If you are covering a different SSC, you will need to adjust, but the principle is the same.
1. Place your carrier on the foam board, flattening out one panel (if your carrier has more than one piece making up its body). Place pins straight into the board on all of the seams. Think of your carrier as a beautiful, rare butterfly that you want to frame and hang on your wall. Pin every inch or closer on the seams and along the edges.
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| Side panel flattened out. Maybe Effervescence wasn't the best print to use. |
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| Pins go right in the seam. |
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| Make sure you pin all around the sides. |
2. Remove the pins and scootch the carrier over a few inches. Then do this again for the other panel. On a Kinderpack, you will need to do this for the middle panel, and again for the headrest.
3. Remove all the pins and your carrier and admire your handiwork. It should look like a crazy connect the dots with all the little pin holes. (I highlighted a few so they are visible).
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| Sorry for the TERRIBLE pictures. I broke the good camera. |
4. Connect all the dots. This will give you a good approximation of the panels on your carrier.
5. Using your ruler/seam gauge/fancy tracing wheel thingy, add seam allowances to your pattern piece. I use 15 mm because that's where the line is on my fancy shmancy sewing machine. On the bottom of the piece, add a BIG seam allowance. I think I did 1 1/2 inches.
6. Do all these steps for all the pieces. I ended up with this:
7. At this point, you have a choice. You can be cheap, like me, and trace the pattern pieces onto fabric or paper so that you can reuse the foam board later, or you can just cut out the foam board to use as your pattern. Your choice.
Thus ends how to make your pattern. If you are still feeling ambitious, find about a yard of fabric and come back for part two, which will be posted when my kids let me.
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