In my mind, first birthday parties are mostly about watching a one year make a huge mess out of some cake. I’m talking a cake-on-the-walls, frosting-in-the-ear, finding-crumbs-for-weeks kind of mess. That’s the good stuff. My little bug did not disappoint.
Well played, baby girl. Well played.
Since I consider the cake-smash to be the main event of the first birthday party, I wanted to make sure I had a cute background for all the photos I would be snapping of the beautiful mess at my baby’s lady bug bash. Here’s how to make a twenty-minute high chair cover for your favorite baby’s first handful of cake.
I started out by pinning a folded piece of fabric over the back of the high chair. I wanted to the cover to fit pretty snuggly, so I pinned it just as I wanted it. Carefully(!) remove the pinned fabric.
Next, I simply sewed along the line created by my pins, be sure to remove each pin before I got to it with my machine. I left about two inches (maybe a bit more) unsewn at the bottom to create a hem and side slit.
To hem the bottom, I simply rolled the edge up twice, pressed, and sewed it down.
I created a side slit to help the bottom of the cover fit snuggly up against a wider part of the chair. I simple folded the seam allowance in and stitched up and around, backstitching over the end of the seam. As you can see, my stitches here are not neat and pretty, but I decided I didn’t care. It’s going to get covered in cake, right?
Here she is slipped back onto the high chair:
Nice, snug fit. Just waiting for your beautiful embellishments. 🙂 I added a simple ruffle around the edge in a striped fabric.
Okay – Let’s talk about ruffles for a second. Basically, they are awesome. (This pillow is still my favorite of the one’s I’ve made.) I never considered them to be difficult, but after stopping by Junkin’ Junky the other day, it’s like a whole new world of ruffles has opened up to me. She found instructions via Little Bit Funky to make ruffles while you sew without a ruffle foot. I mean. You all probably already knew how to do this because you are awesome. But for me, whole. new. world. Seriously.
All you do is set tension to the lowest setting, stitch length to the longest length, and then hold the thread as it leaves the spool. The harder you pull the thread, the more it ruffles. It’s great stuff.
I cut strips of fabric, and then simply stuck another one right on top of the one I had just ruffled (as you can see above) and kept going to create a longer ruffle.
I sewed one ruffle around the outside of the cover, and made another long ruffle for the edge of the tray. I sewed a red polka-dot ribbon over the center of the tray ruffle and used tape to stick it on.
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| (This was my favorite part!!) |
So, there you go! A quick ‘n’ cute high chair cover for your baby’s big moment. Enjoy!
I’m linking up at Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, and the Inspiration Board at Homework
You are so smart! This makes such a difference in the photos, I love it! You little one did a smashing job with the cake too!! 🙂
Oh, this brings back memories of my little one who is now 8. How sweet!
Simply adorable! You make me want to scrap my cleaning plans for the day and just sew all day long!!
SO cute!! This brought back a lot of memories for me as well (my little is now 7). But seriously, what a great idea!
That is perfect! Especially if you have a chair pattern you don't really care for that was gift. :-)<br /><br />I am a new follower from the Show and Tell linking party on Blue Cricket Design. If you have a chance come by http://messforless.blogspot.com<br />and say hi!<br /><br />Thanks!
You are brilliant Alex! These kind of post is always inspiring. It is easy to observe that you're enthusiastic about making this stuff and that's what I want in every blogger!
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