Car Seat Crotch Strap Cover: A Tutorial

The frozen tundra is no longer frozen! It's hot and big baby is sportin' her short shorts which means that her car seat straps are coming perilously close to pinching her thighs. And that's just no fun :( So today I whipped up a little cover for her and thought that some other chubby babies out there must be in the same thigh pinching boat. And a tutorial was born.

You'll need to take some measurements before you begin sewing to create your pattern. It's super easy. Measure the crotch strap's length and width (without the latching mechanism). Find a cup that generously covers the entire circumference of the latching mechanism when the cup is placed on top of it. I should have taken a picture of that step, sorry.

To make your pattern, triple the width of the crotch strap. Mine was two inches, so 2*3=6. This is the the length of your rectangle. The height is the length of the car seat strap plus .25. So mine was 1.25+.25=1.5. Alrighty. My rectangle now measures 6 x 1.5. Draw that out and find the middle of the rectangle by folding it in half. See my fold line in the picture below. Set your cup right on top of that line, overlapping by .25" in and trace it. Now cut that out.

Ignore the wavy cutout on the left corner. Do not add a seam allowance.
Cut two out of your chosen fabric. I used a corduroy so that it would be a little stiff,
but that's not really necessary. You can add interfacing if you want, but also not
necessary.

You'll need some bias tape and a 1" piece of hook and loop.
I used some fusible hook and loop which worked nicely.
Although I ran into a snag when I applied one side to the wrong spot,
but I was able to pull it off. Phew.

This is precisely how you do not put your hook and loop tape on.
You should have the hook tape on one side of one piece of fabric,
flip the TWO pieces over so that you're looking at the other piece and
attach the loop tape on the SAME side.
So, in the picture that we're looking at, the tape piece that's on the left side here,
should be directly underneath where it is in the picture.

Grab your bias tape. One side is wider than the other, this side should be in the
back so that you don't have to worry about whether you're catching the back when you sew.

Start on one side of the circle.

And ease your way around. You can pin it, but I'm really lazy.
In fact, I'm so lazy that I chose white bias tape just because
I already had white thread loaded in my machine.

I sewed two lines because I'm rad.

Cut a little snip in the end of your next section of bias tape
so you can butt it up nice and close to the circle.

Like this. In hindsight, I'd cut mine a little deeper and angle it so that it
matches the curve of the circle.
Sew all the way to the edge of the fabric, back tack, and snip your thread.
Then fold the bias tape around the corner and press it flat with your finger and sew it down.
Sort of a mitered corner, but not very precise.

I have no idea with this is portrait orientation, but no matter what I do
delete, re-upload, swear, it won't show up right.
Anyhoo, this is what it looks like.



Super chub is safe.

And someone's happy!
Again in hindsight I would have used a slightly
larger cup to make my circle bigger, but hindsight's 20/20 and this will work.