Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - Recycled Wool Baby Sleep Sacks



My niece just had a baby (he's SO cute!), so I wanted to make things for her. One of them was a sleep sack. I liked the idea of a recycled wool sleep sack, because they are so versatile. You can use it as a blanket at night, as a diaper cover, or as a bunting. I found this tutorial, which is brilliant, but I don't know how to frog (unravel), so I decided to make a felted version.

You will want to use a big mens sweater for this. The bigger the sweater, the bigger the sleep sack. I believe the lambswool sweater I used was a men's medium or large. After you felt your sweater, cut the sleeves off at the arm/shoulder seams and remove the seams on the sleeves.


Now lay your sleeves out flat, and make the corners rounded. This is also the time to narrow the top if you need the ribbing to be tighter (measure your baby all around, under the armpits, and minus off an inch or 2).


Now sew all the way around, wrong sides out, and of course leaving the top open (that's how the baby will get in). Now turn it right side out, and you have a cute, cozy, natural, fire retardant, naturally hypoallergenic, insulated, breathable little cocoon for your little one (or a great baby gift for someone else's)!


And a special thanks to Soupy, Jack's outgrown doll, for offering up his model services yet again ;)

7 comments:

Irēna said...

looks great!

Resweater said...

Thanks! :)

Unknown said...

Great tutorial, but I would have to find some mighty huge sleeves to make it for my 21 month old! ;) I would also need to make some sort of straps on the top to keep it on her, she would definitely climb out otherwise during the night. But this is great for infants!

Resweater said...

Ana, You need my big kid sleep sack tutorial then! It won't be long before she'll want to be in it :) My son always loved his sleepsacks, and loves that he can get in it by himself now.

Zaira said...

that's really neat! Adding that to my to-do list for when #2 comes along

Unknown said...

This luxurious toddler baby sleep bag will save you buying lots of different sizes and TOG ratings as it comes in one standard size that fits children 2-4 years old and it can be used year-round.

Anonymous said...

Yes I would have to add something to have my little niece and nephews where they’re not trying to get out of the sleeper too. But I like the idea and would do the bottom like this but add a vest to the top. I would be concerned with straps that if the baby wiggled out they could get hurt but a vest idea would probably work. It probably would add a bit more work but you could use the body of the sweater for that or using another piece of recycled adult clothing would look amazing as a contrast.