Summer Paul is HERE. He eats cake for breakfast, listens to hip hop non-stop and has become extraordinarily handy all of a sudden. Seriously-- fixing things in a neat and timely fashion. I have a big old crush on Summer Paul.
Martha came to visit (she came bearing gifts, which will be documented at length soon). So did Blair. There was a wonderful dinner with women I am lucky to know and have close by. I would get mushy, but everyone already knows how I feel about these sorts of things.
Sunday Parkways was great. If you're going to be around town for the next two (NE and SE), I highly recommend getting out there. The route runs close to the house and Sam was in and out all day, riding his bike and jacking himself up on free Clif Bars. The Barnes family stopped in. I am a huge fan of the *in town stop ins* (dirty house be damned). I still love my bike.
I updated the shirt/picking a pattern post with a picture of how I drew in the new stitching line on the back seam. It's not the easiest thing to show, but you get the idea. I also updated the last post with the strawberry compote recipe that will change your life (and my rather dim view of cooked strawberries). Finally, I crossed "Cover up your Barker Lounger of a Carseat for the Bak" off the list. Hooray.
I had been procrastinating tracing out the panel sections of the original cover. I realized that if I used a knit fabric, I could probably just get away with tracing the overall shape. Here's what worked in case you have a carseat that makes you queazy to look at:
- The knit is actually a heavy, 100% cotton rib knit that I purchased at Rose City Textiles some time ago. It's super stretchy, but heavy enough so that it was very easy to sew. I traced the general outline of the original cover. To do this, flatten it out as best you can and measure top to bottom and side to side. Sketch in the curves-- it ends up looking like a squat hour glass.
- Next, Cut Long stripes across the grain or rib about 4 1/2" wide. Sew them together to make one long strip that will fit around your hourglass.
- Turn over one edge of the strip 1/2" and stitch it down to make a long channel.
- Starting at the bottom of your hourglass and with right sides together, stitch the raw edge of your long strip piece right all the way around until you get back to where you started.
- Use a bodkin or safety pin and run some skinny elastic all the way through your channel. Try it on the carseat and cinch up the elastic to where it fits, knotting it at the end.
- I cut out holes for the strap once I got it on. You can cut the holes and then use a zigzag stitch to bind the edges-- like a giant button holes.
To be fair-- this carseat was a hand-me-down for Sam and we have loved it, cover and all. It was just time for change. And I am happy. We've also rigged up a shade cover for the seat for sunny days-- in fact, Summer Paul has been hell bent on all sorts of Bakfiets improvements, so I'll keep you posted.
NEXT UP! I found it-- the dress/tunic pattern for the rest of us. As well as a Part II on the pattern picking and sewing tips.
