New Grandma Wants to Sew!: Carry cot for doll

When Jane's baby sister was imminent, she started taking more interest in her doll again, wanting to put it to bed like the new baby would be. So, for her birthday, I made her a carry cot, which enabled her to do that.

I couldn't find quite the pattern I needed on the internet (at least, not for free, and that's what my blog is all about). So I had to design my own. You can find out how I made it by reading on. There was a bit of trial and error involved, so you are getting the nitty gritty here!

First, I needed to make myself a template. I made up some approximate dimensions by measuring the doll and deciding how much extra length and width would be needed for her to fit comfortably, which would define the finished base size: 17.75 x 8.5". I then drew a template for the side. (Please note there is a slight distortion on the photo. The two ends are parallel, likewise the base and the top and the hood roof are all parallel to each other.) I'll give the dimensions in centimetres below.

These measurements are for the finished carrycot. Obviously you can change the dimensions for a doll of a different size. This was for a 14-15" doll. Just keep the proportions about the same. The length is the doll's length plus about 3 1/2". The total height i.e. including the hood was just over 2/3 of the length - defined in my case by the size of the shoe box I used to give it some structure. More about this later. My 12.5 / 17.75 actually works out at 70%. The height of the cot sides is half the total height, and the hood depth (not shown on template) about the same. (By that, I mean from the front of the hood to the back wall.) The width was about 8", which was pretty much the width measurement of the shoe box, and which gave the doll a bit of room each side. I eyeballed the curves, but you could use a curve tool to get a neat curve if you wanted.

For cutting out the fabric, I then added 1/2" seam allowance all round the side template, EXCEPT on the curve that forms the front of the hood and the top of the sides. (Not shown in photo.)

Finished dimensions in cm:

Base 45 cm x 20.5 cm

Side template 45 cm long x 31.75 cm total height,

Height of sides 15.75-16 cm, depth of hood 15.75-16 cm

Seam allowance 1.25 cm (to be added except on inner curve).

To make it, I used double-sided ready quilted fabric - denim on one side, a bright blue nylon fabric on the other. This photo shows the inside.

I cut three pieces for the carry cot body: two sides, and a long rectangular piece which would form the foot end, the base, the back, and the hood. As you can see, I made it an inch or two longer so I could form a nice edge at the top. So the measurements for the rectangular piece were:

8" plus 2 x 1/2" seam allowance wide (= 9" or c 23 cm) by
45 3/4" long (c 116 cm).

The picture above shows the carry cot pinned together right sides together, ready for sewing.

I also cut two straps, which I'll come on to later.

After sewing the half inch seams, I wanted to neaten them, as my original idea was to use the blue nylon face as the lining of the carry cot. So I unpicked the quilting within the seam allowance.......

... so that I could trim out some of the batting.......

....... and turnover and sew the fabric part, covering the raw edge of the batting.

This would have made a nice finish on the inside, without the need for an extra lining. However, I realised there was a problem with this as soon as I'd turned it the right way out. And this is it.

Yup, the whole thing just went - 'kerflop!' The hood part was heavy and collapsed on top of the rest, pulling the rest out of shape. It clearly needed some strengthening and reinforcement to hold it in shape.

First thing - a shoe box to hold the hood up. This needed to be shaped at the back by cutting the back corners off (as the hood had a curve to it, not a square-cornered profile) and I added in a small roll of batting to fill the curve.

I then made a solid bottom using thin plywood, which was glued to the shoe box inside. I also used some curtain wire threaded through my neatened seams to try and stiffen them.

By the time I'd done all of this, it was clear to me I needed an additional lining to hide the cardboard and plywood. Luckily I had some nice stripey ticking (with a slight stretch in it), so I cut another complete two sides and rectangle, slightly smaller, and made up a lining more or less as I'd made the body of the cot. The only tricky bit was to attach it to the inside top of the hood. I could attach it all round the edges, as I planned to use bias binding tape round the edges anyway. To make it hold up into the (curved) corners of the hood, I employed 'a bit of a bodge' - partly through a couple of stitches right through the cardboard and the lining, and partly though some glue inside. It doesn't show on the finished cot.

Next, I made the straps. The straps were about 2" wide (c 5cm) and a single thickness of the double-sided quilted fabric, edged on both long sides with double fold bias binding tape.

I'm sorry that I don't have the exact length that I made them, as there was some trial and error, though I can approximate. I wanted to get the balancing right, so that when Jane picked up the carry cot with the doll inside, it wouldn't tip either forwards or backwards. This mean the straps needed to be well towards the head end, in fact one end of each strap ended up on the curve where the hood rises from the side. So this positioning affected the length. And the straps needed to be long enough that she could put her hand through both to pick the cot up - but not so long that the cot would drag along the ground when she did. My best guess is they would have been about 15" (38 cm) to 20" (50 cm) long, but I'd recommend cutting them a bit longer and seeing what length works best. (As I did.) You can see from later photos how they sit.

Having made the two straps, I pinned them in position right sides together on the outside of the carry cot, then the bias tape for the top edge was also pinned around. (So the straps were trapped in between.) I sewed the bias tape on the outside, folded it over, and then sewed again on the inside - thus the straps were held with two lines of stitching.

The final thing was to make some bedding. I used more of the striped ticking to make a little mattress:

This was a double layer with some thin batting in between, and a couple of lines of stitching along the length to hold it all together.

Then a two sided blanket (no padding) with a little extra at the top as a turnover, using the ticking again plus some cute quilting material.

And finally, a pillow, which had a double layer of the thin batting, and a decorative trim of the same bias binding as that which I had used round the top of the cot.

And the doll's bed was ready for her! (The model below is a different and rather less cute doll than Jane's - a sad leftover from my own daughters' childhoods.)