Sewing: Altering a Baby Sleeping Bag for a Car Seat

There are a couple of design considerations for this.

For starters, this is going to be like a big buttonhole. The first question is whether or not the buttonhole is worked through both layers at a time, or through each layer singly.

• If worked through both layers at a time, then every time the bag is put on the baby, you have to make sure that his little legs go on the correct sides of what is now sort of a crotch seam.
• If worked through each layer singly, then every time the bag is put on the baby, you have to make sure that his little legs do not poke out through this giant buttonhole.

In the end, his mother said to do it through each layer singly (although she also showed me a store-bought example of one that did it through both layers at a time - it was done quite neatly - it looked sort of like the inner cirle of a doughnut).

The Giant Buttonhole

The first task is to measure the little munchkin from his nape to his knees along his back with his legs bent, to determine where the opening should be. I added a couple of inches to that measurement to accommodate growth.

Mark an opening about 3 inches long at that point, centered on the garment, on both sides.

Sew a buttonhole around this marking. Yes, I know - your typical sewing machine does not have the capability to make a 3 inch buttonhole. So you have to do it manually.

The basic buttonhole consists of a left-side half-width zigzag along the left edge of the buttonhole, then a full-width bar tack at the end, then a right-side half-width zigzag along the right edge of the buttonhole, and finally a full-width bar tack at the other end. Machines might vary in where they start the buttonhole and whether the left side or the right side goes forward or backward - but the concept applies to all.

And, of course, going backwards without the guidance of an automatic buttonholer is somewhat risky.

So, do these steps:

• Set the machine to a half-width zigzag (I used 2.5) with a short stitch length (I used .9 - the fabric was a knit, and unlikely to fray).
• Position the fabric so that the buttonhole marking is towards you, and zigzag down the length of the marking on the left side.
• Set the machine to a full-width zigzag (I used 5.0) and bartack the end.
• Turn the fabric around so that the buttonhole marking is again towards you.
• Set the maching to a half-width zigzag and sew down the length of the marking, again on the left side (because you turned the fabric around). Make sure you don't sew too close to the first stitching - you need to have some space between the two rows of stitching to be able to cut the buttonhole open without cutting any stitches. This photo shows the second line of zigzagging in progress.

  

• Set the machine to a full-width zigzag and bartack the end.
• You're done.

Now, cut the buttonhole open.

This photo shows both buttonholes open and nicely aligned. (A good pressing with steam eliminated the curl.)

The Flaps

One design consideration noted above was dealing with the possibility that a little foot might decide to poke through the opening. The solution is to put a flap on the inside that covers the opening, yet still provides ready access when attempting to thread the seat belt through the opening.

I used a couple of 4-inch square (more or less) pieces of a t-shirt knit fabric from my scrap pile.

Fold the square in half, center it just above the buttonhole, and zigzag it to the garment. This is what the right side looks like. Notice how the stitching extends well past the ends of the buttonhole - this should help to keep the little legs where they belong.

And this is what the wrong side looks like.

Conclusion