How to Sew a Shopping Cart Cover

A shopping cart cover is a great way to go shopping comfortably with your little one. Making a shopping cart cover is fairly simple if you're handy with a sewing machine and know a few different stitches. Here's how to sew a shopping cart cover so both you and your baby will enjoy a more comfortable and germ-free shopping experience.

Things You'll Need

• 2.5 yards of fabric
• 1 piece batting, 50-by-44 inches
• Matching thread
• 1.5 yards of coordinating bias tape
• 1 yard of coordinating fabric
• 4.5 yards package of 1-inch elastic
• 2 yards of coordinating bias tape

Instructions

Make the Inside of the Shopping Cart Cover

1. Measure and cut two identical pieces of fabric with the following dimensions: 1 times the width of a cart's baby seat and 2 times the depth wide, and 1 times the length and 2 times the depth long.

2. Use fusible interfacing and fuse a layer of batting between the two pieces of fabric.

3. Make a box by cutting squares out of the corners and baste the corners together to make a box shape. Use bias tape to finish the edges.

4. Cut two holes for legs In the front of the "box" about 6 inches in diameter. Baste around each opening and sew bias tape around the leg holes. Baste the top edges of the "box" together then measure the total length around the top.

Make the Skirting of the Shopping Cart Cover

1. Take two pieces of fabric and cut them 1.5 times longer than the distance you measured around the top of your "box" and 1.5 feet wide.

2. Sew the two pieces, wrong sides together, along one long side. Press the seam and flip to right sides together.

3. Stitch 1.5 inches from the original seam leaving a 2-inch space to feed the 1-inch wide elastic. Feed the elastic through the pocket you made using a safety pin as your guide. Attach the two ends of elastic together by sewing an "X" into both ends.

4. Baste around the raw edges of your skirting and gather. Make sure you end up with a length equal to the length you measured around the top of the "box."

5. Pin and sew the gathered fabric to the wrong side of the top of the inside of the "box." Trim and finish the edge with bias tape.