Believe it or not, I managed to sew more than just Emma's dress this Christmas. Kind of a new/working mom miracle, I'd say. I started out making this car seat blanket for Emma...
I followed this very easy tutorial, and while the instructions recommend using Minky or fleece, I just couldn't find any that really appealed to me. Most of the stuff for girls is pink or purple, and I wanted something that would coordinate with Emma's red car seat. That's when Aneela Hoey's Little Apples collection caught my eye and when I saw this adorable red and aqua quilted fabric - forget about it. I was done for. It might be my favorite fabric I've ever worked with. Look at the little retro school clothes! I die.
Anyway, by using the quilted fabric all I had to do was cut the fabric and sew on the bias tape. Easy peasy. Here's what it looks like opened up...
And here's Emma all snug and cozy...
As soon as I made one for Emma, I knew I had to make one for my adorable little nephew, Zachary. And it's a good thing I did, because as soon as we got to Virginia for the holidays my sister went on and on about how great Emma's car seat blanket was, and how I need to make one for Zachary asap. I hedged and was like "oh, if only I had time." She definitely didn't think she was getting one. So she was pretty stoked when this jungle themed bundle of warmth was waiting for Zach under the Christmas tree...
As much as I love the Little Apples fabric I used for Emma's blanket, the fleece/flannel combo I used for Zach's actually works a bit better than the quilted fabric because it's not so stiff. If you're making this for a younger/smaller babe, I definitely recommend the fleece/Minky/flannel recommendation from the tutorial... it'll be a lot easier to fold down around baby's face.
I sadly didn't get any pics of Zach all wrapped up in his blanket, so you'll just have to take my word for it that he looks super cute in it. :-)