This Christmas I made sleep sacks for two of the grandkids. My DIL, Ebeth, had asked me, earlier in the year, if I would make a pattern off of my granddaughter’s cotton lined sleep sack, but I just never seemed to find the time. Frankly, I was amazed to discover these great 'attachable' blankets. How I wish they had made these when my kids were babies! No more worrying that the babies are getting cold in the night from kicking off their covers. Such a smart idea!
Since I was making fleece sleeping bags for most of the grandkids and knew she would prefer sleep sacks, I thought I’d go ahead and make a pattern off of hers. I’ve written a tutorial of how to make patterns to copy store bought clothes here. It’s one of my most popular posts! If you have something store bought that you’d like to copy, it’s really pretty easy to make a pattern off of it.
Anyway, while I was making a pattern to use for the fleece sleep bags, I figured I might as well copy it a couple of times for my two DILS, Ebeth, and Amanda. I’ve attached a link to the .pdf file HERE and it’s possible, according to Office Max to print it ‘tiled’ from Windows Publisher. I will try to do some scanning so you can have individual pages to print out.
If you want, you can put the .pdf on a memory stick and take it to any office store and they can print it out, but I think it would be about $5.00 so it might be better just to buy a pattern if you can’t get it to print from your home computer.
How to Make a Sleep Sack…
First you need about 1 1/2 to 2 yards of fleece. Fold it in half so that the selvages meet. It will be about 30” by 45” after you fold it. Then you can have two pieces to fold in half lengthwise. The pattern is designed to be cut on the fold.
Print the pattern. Or you could draw your own pattern on freezer paper off of a jumper or sleeveless shirt of your child’s that fits. Just make sure the sack is at least the distance from their shoulder seam to maybe a foot below their feet.
Note: When I made the pattern it was so the DIL’s could exactly replicate the original sleep sack. But the fleece ones are more simple. I just cut out the shape. I didn’t put in zippers or line them.
Here you can see how I’m pinning through the fabric into the paper so it will leave holes that I can connect to mark the front neck line. This is one step in making a pattern off of a ready made clothing item. It keeps the garment intact while allowing me to trace each piece of the construction of the garment.
Draw it wide and curved at the bottom for plenty of room for movement. You usually keep your kids in their pajamas and put the sleep sack over it.
They are pretty loose even around the shoulders and neck.
Now cut out a front and back… of the sleep sack. The shorter one is baby sized and the longer cutting line is toddler sized.
The front should be the lower neckline circle. The back has the higher neckline curve.
Hem the from the armhole edge across the strap edge across the neckline and down the other side.
I made one side opening larger than the other as I put snaps pretty low on the sides under the arm for a wide opening. I thought that would make it easier to take the baby in and out.
But really, after making the sacks, my DIL and I both think you could just hem the armholes and neck and not leave an opening on the side seam. As long as you can unsnap both shoulders, you don’t really need that.
Now sew the front to the back at the starting at one side seam, just below the hemmed edge of the the armhole opening ...all the way around the bottom of the sack..ending at the other armhole at the hemmed opening.
Then either use a snap tool as I did, or make button holes and sew on buttons to attach the straps at the shoulders, or use velcro dots.
One thing I will do differently is to lengthen the back straps of the sleep sack so they will overlap on the front straps, but Ebeth said she thought it was fine as it was.
One of the main benefits of using fleece is that you don’t have to line anything.
The fabric is very sturdy.
And I had no trouble adding snaps even with a double layer of fleece. It compresses very well.
On Wednesday, I’ll post the snap tool tutorial so you can see how to use that, in case you have never used one. But for now..here are some photos which will give you a pretty good idea how they work.
Please, do email me if you have any questions. I’ll reply as soon as I can. Have fun! :o)Linking with these wonderful Linky Parties...
Cindy's My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday
Raising Homemakers Wednesday Link Up
Melissa's My Crafty Weekend
Deb's Fantastic Friday Link Up
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