As the weather is definitely cooling off in Berlin it’s time to start preparing for our Kleiner Hosenpuper’s first fall & winter chill. As she’s not yet a fan of quilts & blankets and for some reason the only sleep sacks available here are sleeveless I was determined to make a warm & cosy version with full arm coverage – or go insane trying! Luckily, inspiration soon struck & I was sifting through my stash for the ingredients!
It turned out a bit larger than I planned but she’ll grow into it soon enough! Here’s how to make your own with stuff I’m sure you already have around the house!
Start with a fleece blanket – obviously, the bigger your blanket is, the larger your finished sleep sack will be (you’ll also need a fleece scarf, zipper, t-shirt & of course the tools to cut and sew it all together). Fold the blanket in half & lay it on a flat surface.
Take a sleep sack you already have & lay it on top of your folded blanket – if you don’t have a sleep sack a hand towel will do, this step is just to mark the length & width for the basic sleep sack shape. Next, put a winter jacket (in your baby’s size or a bit bigger) on top of the sleep sack, lining up the shoulders of both is a quick ‘no-measuring’ way to create an even form. (We bought the jacket for our girlie at an end-of-season-sale last year when she was still in utero – an epic score for only €1.00!)
Trace around your sack/towel-jacket combination then cut through both layers of the folded blanket and voila, you have the front & back of your basic sleep sack. Set aside the back for now.
Onto the most confusing part…the zipper. After much deliberation & mental gymnastics I figured out the best way to attach the possibly-ouchie-to-baby zipper: Place the zipper on the outside of the front piece of your sleep sack , pin the bottom of the zipper at the top of the sleep sack and stitch it on, this way the zipper pull is away from baby’s face . I sewed my zipper about 8cm from the top, leaving space for the neckline.
Once your zipper is sewn on cut a couple of strips from a fleece scarf (or the remains of your blanket) and stitch them down to cover the rather unattractive sides of your zipper.
I went a bit further (as usual) & instead of just straight stitching the outside of my fleece strips, I set my machine to one of it’s fancy 1980’s embroidery settings, changed the thread colour & got a bit froufrou, I also added a patchwork-y flower to the body of the sack…
Lay your front-of-sleep-sack face down on a flat surface & snip from the top all the way down to the end of the zipper. Cut directly in the center behind the zipper & don’t trim up the cut sides of the fleece as when the zipper is closed the remaining fleece is nicer against baby than the zipper teeth.
For a little extra zipper protection cut a square of fleece & sew it around the ‘bottom’ end of the zipper creating a zipper pull pocket. (remember, the zipper should be bottom to top/upside down on the sleep sack – the zipper pull away from baby’s face)
To cut a tidy neckline simply use one of baby’s t-shirts as a guide.
Put your front & back pieces right sides together, sew ’em up & turn right side out! As fleece doesn’t unravel you could be done now…but as always I like to really finish the job!
Cut the neck from a t-shirt, slip it over the sleep sack neckline & sew together, be careful not to sew over the zipper end. *It doesn’t matter if the t-shirt neck is too large, it’ll get trimmed in the next step.
Snip your new neck at the zipper & zigzag stitch around the outside for extra strength & added detail.
You covered the bottom of the zipper, now what about the top?
To make a zip at the neckline cover simply cut a small oval of t-shirt, fold it in half, sew it together (leaving one end open) & turn it right side out.
Fold your cover over the zipper & stitch down one side. You should easily be able to flip the round side of the cover up to expose the zipper for easy fastening (& unfastening).
Last but not least…the cuffs! Create them by sewing a couple of pieces of t-shirt into tubes. *The size depends on the sleeve width of your individual sleep sack* Stitch them onto the ends of your sleeves & you’re done!
Sit back & admire your work!
Snug as a bug in a rug!
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