How to Make a Fleece Grocery-Basket Cover

Grocery-basket covers protect babies and small children from germs.

Shopping-cart covers protect a small baby or child from touching the germy surface of the cart. This is especially useful for babies who are in the teething stage, who try to put everything in their mouths. You can protect your baby from a bare shopping cart by making a homemade shopping-cart cover from fleece. Essentially, the cover is an elasticized blanket with holes for the baby’s feet to stick out that you place inside the cart. Place the elastic band around the outside edges of the shopping cart to protect your baby while you shop.

Things You'll Need

• 2 pieces of fleece, 45 inches by 42 inches
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Marker
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• 2 yards of elastic, ½-inch wide
• Safety pin

Instructions

1. Fold one piece of fleece in half. Fold it in half again. Round the top edges of the fabric with scissors along the side where the open edges align. Do not cut the folded sides of the fabric.

2. Unfold the fabric one time. Measure 19 inches from the left side and 4 inches up from the bottom edge of the fabric. Draw a 6-inch circle at the 19-inch mark using the marker.

3. Fold the second rectangle of fleece in half. Place the first halved piece of fleece on top of the second rectangle. Cut the second rectangle into the same rounded shape as the first rectangle. Cut the inside of the circle out from both pieces of fabric.

4. Open each rectangle and place them on a flat surface. Face the two rectangles of fabric together with the right sides facing each other. Align the leg holes. Pin the fabric together around the leg holes and the outside edges of the fleece.

5. Sew a ¼-inch seam along the outside edges of the fabric. Leave a 6-inch opening in the fabric. Sew a second seam 1 inch away from the edge of the fabric. Leave the same 6-inch opening unsewn. Sew a ¼-inch seam around the leg holes.

6. Feed the elastic strip through the edge seam around the outside edges of the fabric into the small pocket. Use a safety pin to feed the elastic through the pocket. Sew the two ends of the elastic together.

7. Fold the open ends of the fleece cover inward ¼ of an inch and sew the pieces together to hide the elastic band.