Umbrella Stroller Bag

After a lovely vacation, we are back in Japan and jet-lagged as all get out. I've been sleeping whenever K sleeps, so I've had zero time to bake or sew. The good news is that I did a few projects while at home and had a few up my sleeve, so I'll be back to posting regularly. Thanks to all of you who checked often, regardless of my laziness.

While we were in the US, we had a lovely two days in Chicago planned and all of it went to pot due to a flight cancellation. In preparation for our mini-trip, however, I bought an umbrella stroller - perfect for carting around a city and using in museums.

It definitely needed a cover, however, as K also likes being held. A lot.




I immediately thought of a yoga mat bag that I'd made for my yoga instructor sister-in-law. Essentially it is a long tube of fabric with a line sewn in the middle. You simply roll the mat up, put it in the tube, then tie the ends together and sling it over your shoulder. The line in the middle of the tube stops the mat from sliding around.

I figured I could do the same thing with the stroller bag. Once I laid the fabric out, however, I realized that it wasn't going to be long enough.




Whoops. Luckily, it was plenty wide enough. I ended up cutting it about 2/3 of the width all the way down the length.

Using the wider piece, I double folded one of the short ends under so it doesn't start to fray as the stroller is taken in and out many times. Then I sewed a French seam down the long side. It got a tad tricky, as there was a heap of fabric bunching up, but certainly doable.




At this point, I'd like to apologize for the awful photos. It was 11pm as I was making this and my parents were sleeping in the next room. I was trying to just get this done quickly, (so I could get to bed) in the dark (so I didn't wake the 'rents).

Back to the bag...the difficult part is now done. The next thing was to fold the smaller piece in half and sew right sides together, leaving one short end unfinished. Then flip right-side out and you've created the other half of the bag.

Finally, connect your pieces. Since one is much wider than the other, I ended up folding the wider piece into thirds and connecting the two unfinished ends with another French seam at the bottom.




Then just slip the stroller in, tie the top ends together in a knot and throw it over your shoulder. Done and done.




Thanks to my little brother for modeling!!


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