After we finished my daughter’s pyjamas we searched for another project to take on together and decided on a sleeping bag for her stuffed animals. Mainly because I really didn’t feel like making them pyjamas too…
We took some small improv pieces I had made earlier this year and sewed those together to create two larger pieces. I didn’t take any measurements, just sort of guessed what size would be large enough for the toys she would most likely want to put inside.
The back, which is the inside of the finished sleeping bag, is an unpieced piece of cotton. Batting is Hobbs Tuscany Cotton Wool. From my selection of quilting threads she picked a pink variegated one. The quilting is a simple straight line wonky grid that I think matches with the improv nature of the pieces.
I lucked out with the binding because I had a piece left over from a quilt that was large enough. I really don’t want to use my iron when my daughter is in the room and I feared that the fold in the binding would not turn out so great without using an iron .
Normally I am all for the clean look of a hand sewn binding, but someone was a little bit impatient to get this sleeping bag finished so I decided to do a machine sewn binding instead. It’s probably sturdier too which is great for a toy. I used two decorative stitches and realised that the stitch in the ditch foot that I can attach to my walking foot could be really useful to get the stitches on the front evenly distributed on the edge of the binding. Turning was a bit fiddly, but it did work. The back is a bit less neat, but I am not too bothered by that.
Her toys had a really good night’s sleep.
Oh, Miffy and Friend look so comfortable in their beautiful sleeping bag 🙂
Yes, it’s almost too cute! 😉
Such a sweet, clever and simple project!! And how fun that you did it together. I’m adding this to my Go To list of gifts for little girls. Thank you for sharing. 😊
Thank you! It is so easy to customize the size to fit a favourite toy. With a fun print you don’t even need to make a patchwork first if you want to make a really quick gift.
What a delightful post. The sleeping bag is gorgeous. Thanks for making me smile.
Your comment made me smile too!
Oh my goodness that is so darling!
Thank you!
Oh one more comment – if you were to open an Etsy shop you should sell sleeping bags for stuffed animals – this made me smile!
Spreading joy and smiles through improv scrappy sleeping bags, now that’s a thought! If only I had more time in between caring for 2 young kids, trying to do my tiny bit in fighting the pandemic (I’m a virologist in a coronavirus lab) and staying sane in the rare spare moments. Crafting plays an important part in the latter, but there are just too many things I still want to make. When I am busy the number of new ideas somehow appears to grows exponentially.
Wat ontzettend leuk is dit geworden en zo simpel.
Dank je! Soms moeten dingen helemaal niet ingewikkeld zijn.
Awww
Thank you for such helpful descriptions and photos. Can you tell me what machine you use? Although, we don’t have access to all types of machines down here in New Zealand, but we also don’t have community transmitted Corona virus, so I’ll take that as a win.
For piecing I usually use a Janome 3160 qdc. I’ve had this machine since 2010 and still think it’s great. Janome no longer sells this specific model but there are similar models. I used to do everything on that machine but for quilting I now use a Janome Horizon 9400 which has a much larger harp space. This is one of their higher end models. I could also use that one for piecing but I like not having to change threads/needles/feet because I often work on multiple projects at the same time.
And yes, New Zealand is doing a lot better than most other countries…
Thanks for your reply! I looked you up on YouTube, hoping you had more videos there, but I wouldn’t recommend looking up infectiousstitsches with children looking beside you! Haha
Hahaha, yes I suppose you may get some gory pictures if you find the medical kind of stitches. I don’t have any YouTube videos, so far I’ve kept it to tutorials on my blog and some pictures on Instagram.