Sunday, January 29, 2012

Itty Bitty Bag (sleeping bag tutorial)

Before Christmas (when I still had contact with my sewing machine), I made a little Itty Bitty sleeping bag for Emersyn's BFF (and her Bitty Baby).  Em has been bugging me to make one for her dollies, so I thought I better go back to my pictures and write down what I did so that I do not have to re-invent the wheel when I decide to be a good mommy and make her one. 
SOOO here is a SUPER quick rundown of what I did.  BTW...this would be GREAT for a kid's sleeping bag too, you would just need to increase the length of the fabric to fit your kiddo!!
I started with 3/4 yards of two coordinating fabrics.  I could have made this smaller, but 3/4 is the cuts that I had, so I just went simple and left it.  I also used selvage to selvage and didn't cut, but you could make it much smaller if you wanted to use less fabric.  Next I used spray adhasive to make a quilt sandwich.  SOOO fabric--batting---fabric.  There are lots of online tutorials for that if you are not a quilter. 
 Next, I quilted straight lines about every 8 inches.  I used the lines between the flowers and just eye balled it. SOO do not look closely because it is SUPER crooked.  If you wanted to skip the quilting step, you could buy pre-quilted fabric OR use fleece.  If using fleece you would only need ONE piece because you would not need to use batting and lining.  Honestly, that might be the way to go:)
 After quilting I cut the edges even and serged around all four sides.  Serging is optional, it just keeps the edges looking clean. 
 Next, I took one SHORT end and folded it down and ironed it. 
THEN I folded it over again to make a cute border at the top of the bag. 
 I top stitched along the inner edge.
 AND then again along the outer edge.
 THEN, I folded in one of the LONG edges and top stitched along the inner edge.
 Last, I sewed the velcro along the entire LONG edge that you just sewed down.  DISCLAIMER....I have yet to find a way to sew velcro on and have it look clean and pretty and straight.  SOOO go with it and get it on there.  Remember this is for a doll:)  Repeat along the other side with the other side of the velcro.  After you have both velcro pieces on, close your bag with right sides together and sew the bottom closed.  SOOO you are putting right sides together and sewing along the last SHORT edge of the sleeping bag.  THEN just flip it right side out. and your bag is DONE. 
I used two pieces of bias tape (ribbon would work better) to make straps.  I just sewed BOTH pieces to ONE of the top edges of the bag about 1/4 of the way in from the edge.
ALLL ready for a slumber party!!!
Then you can just fold it up and take it along....just like a BIG GIRL sleeping bag. 
 Trust me...Your baby doll with be SUPER happy to have her own little sleeping bag.  AND YOUR little DOLL will LOVE you for making something cute for her dolly:)

1 comment:

Countrylivn' said...

Really cute idea, I love your fabric choice too!