Sleeping Bag

Since sewing for my self is becoming more and more pointless with the progressing pregnancy (I made enough jersey tops) I delved into sewing for others.

Animal Sleeping Bag- newborn size

So I made a sleeping bag for the baby. I followed this Patty Doo tutorial and free pattern (newborn size). Don’t let yourself be put off by the very coulourful and sometimes mismatched fabrics of the samples- the pattern is good and the video really helpful. I especially appreciated (and needed) the instructions for what to turn where when installing the zip. I am happy with the result, although I scooped out the front neckline twice because it looked tiny (even for a newborn, I was afraid it would be too tight around the neck, so I took away 3 cm of the front neckline). My outer fabric is from Stoff & Stil and while I like the design, some of the darker areas of the fabric bled onto the white parts during the pre wash- which sucks. I used some cotton leftovers for the lining and because I didn’t want to use a polyester filling (and 100 percent cotton batting is hard to come by in Germany) I used a white cotton towel to replace the proposed polyester batting. My sleeping sack might not be very fluffy but I don’t have to be afraid of the batting migrating inside.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I couldn’t get my hands on a slim 90 cm zipper and since I didn’t want to order one single zipper online, I made do with what I had. My zipper is quite chunky, which is why it looks a bit wavy, but I don’t mind. The tutorial (as all tutorials) made it look effortless to have the end of the zipper all flat and neat, which of course mine isn’t. But since the baby couldn’t tell a zipper from an elephant, I decided my somewhat wonky zipper end isn’t of much importance.

I will give a feedback on the fit once I have someone to put into the sleeping bag.

Update: The sleeping bag fits my 54 cm baby nicely. I am happy with the neck area as well, scooping it lower and wider was a good choice. The sleeping bag is quite fitted around the chest area, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but should be considered if the baby it’s intended for is a bit chubbier.