Car Seat Canopy

About a week before my son and I were going to fly to be with family, I started seeing these nifty little canopies for car seats. Usually I just drape a blanket over the car seat but these are way cooler...and a good excuse to break out my sewing machine again.


And a shot of the fabrics I used:


If you want to make your own, here's a few things I discovered through trial and error:

• I used a fat quarter in a coordinating green for the straps that attach the canopy to the car seat. I didn't attach them to both sides to make the canopy reversible (like in a few tutorials), but even if I did I had more than enough fabric left to spare.
• Something I learned the hard way: if your fabric has a print that is horizontal (like both of mine) then you actually need 1.25 yards of fabric. The reason for this being is that you need the rectangle to be vertical in order to completely cover the car seat AND so it doesn't drag on the floor. I didn't figure this out until after I had sewn the two sides together, so I had to adjust the position of the straps so it would provide good coverage and drag a little less.
• If your fabric has a print that is vertical, or if it can go either way (ie dots, stripes, solids, florals, etc) then you only need 1 yard of fabric for each side.

The best part is that you can use whatever fabric you want. I did the top side in a cotton and the bottom in a flannel. But I might do another canopy with 2 sides of fleece for the chillier days, or one with 2 sides of cotton for the summer time.

The tutorial I used (there are a few out there) found here: Small Fry & Co