Baby sleeping bags foir hot summer nights

This has been such a hot and dry June and July in my part of England. And stifling hot at night, too. So when I delivered a little romper for my youngest grand-daughter, my daughter asked if there was any chance I could make a thin sleeping bag for her as well. She's just turned a year old, and settles much better in a sleeping bag than not. But all her sleeping bags are warm and cosy, so she's been sleeping (or not) just in a nappy.

I wanted to be able make it quickly, as the weather was still very hot - not point in waiting till it gets cooler again. So I looked out the pattern I'd used to make sleeping bags for her older sister, and decided it would be just the right size, at 6-14 months. This was the free PDF generously offered by Small Dream Factory. (There are other sizes, available to buy.) There is a very good tutorial, too. I made two versions, one thin and one ultra-thin.

To find out how I modified the pattern to make thin hot weather sleeping bags, read on.

The Small Dream factory pattern comes in nine pieces which need to be attached together and then cut out. Be careful, though, because there is no seam allowance included. This would not matter If you did as I did for one of my earlier sleeping bags,i.e.bind the entire sleeping bag with bias tape, and omit the central zip, replacing it with a long zip round the side and part of the bottom. However, if you follow the tutorial, you do need to add 1cm or 3/8" seam allowance round the pattern below the armholes, and 2cm or 3/4" on the front edge of the front piece. Also, note that the back pattern is cut on the fold.

On the picture, the dotted lines round the outer curves, and down the centre front, are the original pattern. I have added seam allowance as described above. The back pattern piece printed very close to the bottom edge of the paper, so I couldn't get an extra centimetre. Instead, I had to draw some arrows reminding me not to cut on the line of the pattern, but 1cm outside it.

Now for the two alternatives I offer for warm weather bags. I made one which was two layers, an outer and an inner, and one which was a single layer. The method for each was a little different, so I'll explain. First, the double layer version (pictured top left).

 The tutorial suggests an outer layer, an inner layer, and a lining. This was clearly going to be way too much for this hot summer. So I planned to omit the cosy lining.

The outer layer was some cotton fabric I had in my stash. The inner layer was an old blue pillowcase that I unpicked. The latter was marginally too narrow for the pattern, so I had to mark where the seam allowance should be - a bit closer than 1cm in places.

I already had a 50cm zip  - pale lilac, so not perhaps ideal with  white and black, and blue fabrics. But probably better than the other one I had, which was mustard yellow. I figured it wouldn't show much anyway. So I measured this against the centre front, allowing for it to be about 3/4" below the top edge. (You need to allow for the binding round the neckline.) This step is shown below on the second sleeping bag, in case you are confused.

This meant I only need to sew the first few inches / centimetres up from the bottom of the centre front seam, on both the inner and outer layers. Then I joined the side seams of both, clipping the curves of the outer layer and trimming down the inner layer. 

I pressed them both, not only the seams but also the seam allowance on the rest of the centre front which would hold the zip. I put the inner layer wrong side out, inside the outer layer.  (Which was of course right side out.) Then I pinned the zip in between the two layers, and sewed it in using a zip foot on the machine.

At this point it felt like the sleeping bag was almost finished. However, the remaining task was to attach bias binding all round the top edge of the neckline, straps and armholes. I had cut small pieces of interfacing to go inside the top of the straps to give more support to the snap fasteners. What took most time at this stage was the pinning of the bias binding. Maybe some people don't bother to pin it, but just stretch and ease it as they go. However, I knew that the piece of bias binding I had was only just long enough  (at least, I hoped it was long enough!) so I wanted to pin accurately so as to be sure I had enough. And I did - by about 5cm or a couple of inches! (Pinning shown below on second sleeping bag - note the tape is pinned to the WRONG side. A bit hard to see on this fabric.)

I pinned and sewed the bias binding on the inside first, asnd then turned it over to do the outside. Where I had to go round the very tight curves at the tops of the straps, there was a lot of excess tape as I turned it over. I deal with this by running a small gathering thread through around the top, and pulling it gently so the tape gathers on the inisde of the curve. After stitching on the outside, I pulled the gathering threads out.

Finally, snap fasteners on the straps, and I was done. 

Here is the front of the finished bag.

And with the zip open.

All told, this took me about three hours, including re-printing and preparing the pattern. I took it over that evening, and she was asleep in it by the time I left!

Now for the single layer - for very hot nights! The fabric I was using was a very thin cotton lawn - you probably don't need to go quite that thin, but I was experimenting! A single layer quilt is slightly more challenging, as you don't want to have raw edges inside. I suppose with a serger you coudl finish the edges so they don't fray, but I don't have a serger, and I wanted the bag to feel soft inside. So I made it with French seams.

To cut out a single layer bag, I added a bit more seam allowance all around. I also decided to just make shoulder seams and not have opening shoulders, to avoid needing snap fasteners on a single layer. So that meant I had make the back shoulder strap the same shape as the front (by folding down at the dotted line) and adding a bit of seam allowance to the shoulder seams. (I used the same size pattern but just cut a bit bigger.)

First, I pressed a narrow single hem all the way down both the centre fronts of the two front pieces - 1/8" - 1/4", or 0.5cm. I then sewed it down. That was going to avoid protect the raw edges on the front.

 Next, I pressed the seam allowance down on the centre fronts. I measured my zip against the length again, with about 3/4" or 2cm above the top at the neckline. This gave me the length of the gap needed for the zip and hence the length up from the bottom that I needed to sew.

I sewed up this bit along the pressed seam allowance line, with the front right sides together.

Next, I attached the zip, Because the seam allowance was already pressed in, I was able to line the zip teeth edges with those pressed edges. I sewed down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side.

To make French seams on the shoulders and around the sides, I next pinned the front and back together WRONG sides together. Yes, you read that correctly. I did a 1/4" seam all the way round and across the shoulder seams, then I trimmed this down to about 1/8". 

I pressed all the seams (easier with the zip open!) and turned the bag inside out so now there were right sides together. Then did the final seams on the seam allowance.

The raw edges of the seam are encased inside the second seam.

Almost done! Pressed and turned back the right way out, it almost looked like a sleeping bag. Just the edges to trim.

I should say that in the interests of thinness, I had considered adding seam allowance round the neckline and armholes, and just folding this in twice and sewing it down. (As opposed to adding bias binding, which is what I actually did.) However, with a non-stretch fabric, it is always fiddly to finish a neckline like this, because the outer edge is smaller than the bit you need to sew it to. A better alternative would be single fold bias tape, turned right to the inside (you would need extra seam allowance though).I opted for double fold for a number of reasons.

1) I already had some home-made double fold bias tape of the same fabric, from an earlier project.

2. The fabric of the bias tape was very thin, so wasn't going to add a lot of bulk.

3. I didn't need any extra seam allowance.

 

This was my home-made bias binding, made using a bias binding maker. But it's easy enough to make small lengths, if that's all you need, by just using your iron. This was made from 2" strips of fabric cut diagonally. 

As with the other sleeping bag, I attached double fold bias tape first to the inside, and then to the outside - it's easier to get a neat finish, unless you plan to hand sew inside, and I didn't have time. If you use single fold, then I would attach to the outside first, turn it fully inside and press, and, yes, I probably would hand-hem it. 

I then trim the curves so they bend easily, turn the tape over, and sew on the right side.

Pictures of finished bag. #

# Take a look at this little feature - a little yoke on the back - cute, isn't it?

Well - take another look at the earlier photos of the 'finished' sleeping bag. Notice something? This yoke was the result of a mistake, which you can see in the picture below. I'd accidentally cut the back neckline the same as the front one. Oops! That would make the back neckline rub her somewhere down between the shoulder blades, and might make the neck so big that it would slip off her shoulders in her sleep. I ummed and aahed about whether this mattered (yes really) and then decided it did. So I had to unpick the back neck facing (and shorten it), and add a little double layered yoke.

Of course, if you like the look of the yoke, you could add a fake one to the outside! I don't recommend cutting it wrong and then having to make a yoke pattern. (Which I did by drawing the difference between the two patterns and adding seam allowance to the bottom.)

So - second (finally) bag done!

And another lesson learned.