Tutorial: Baby Doll Sleeping Bag

The last several months I've been enjoying tapping into my creative crafty side and learning how to sew again. I've discovered the wonderful world of free online tutorials for so many different crafts and sewing projects, and I'm in love. My bookmark list has grown dramatically (which annoys my husband) because there are so many new things I want to try. I've done a few things already, and hope to blog about them soon so other people can try these cool projects!

I also decided I want to "give back" to the online crafting world by posting my own tutorial for a baby doll sleeping bag I put together. There may be other tutorials for this on the web that would be better/easier, but I just decided to try to do this off the top of my head, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out! And the best part is, my daughters' love it!!!

Here are the instructions. Besides the normal sewing stuff, you'll need 1/2 yard of fleece material and stuffing/batting/fill (or tons of cotton balls!). Keep in mind that this is for a 14 in. doll. If you are making this for a larger doll, you'll have to adjust the measurements.

1. Fold your material in half (right sides together) and place your doll on top. Cut out a rectangle around the doll, leaving a little extra room for a seam allowance.

I don't remember the width of the material, but I believe it ended up being 37 inches long (when unfolded)

2. The folded edge will be the bottom of your sleeping bag. Measure about 6.5 inches down from the unfolded short edge of your material and cut across on ONLY ONE LAYER. This will end up being the pillow part of the bag.

Only cut through the top layer or you will ruin the sleeping bag!

3. Pin around the three unfolded sides of the sleeping bag, keeping the cut pieces lined up together.

4. Pause to take a picture of a little girl trying to be funny, feed the baby, and put the kids to bed. (This step is optional!)

5. Sew around the three sides of the sleeping bag. When you get to the cut, make sure that you keep it lined up. You don't want the material to shift or separate, making a gap. 

6. Reach inside the opening and turn the sleeping bag right-side out so the seams are inside. Then on the pillow part, measure and mark a rectangle about an inch in, and sew around it leaving a three inch opening on the cut side to insert your batting/stuffing.

I used fill for stuffing pillows, but you could even use a bunch of cotton balls if you have those on hand!

7. After inserting your stuffing, you'll need to sew the final three inch opening shut. This is a little tricky, but if you really force the stuffing back in away from your sewing line, you should be fine!

That's it! Because fleece doesn't fray, you don't need to do anything with the open edge of the fabric between the bag and the pillow. So nice! Now all you have to do is slip a baby doll inside and give it to a child who will enjoy it.

And because it's so easy and you must have multiples of everything when you have two little girls that play with dolls, make another one! 

Seriously, this whole thing took me less than an hour (not including the interruptions). You can do this!!! :-)

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