A Bassinet Cover Tutorial

I am happy to say that I finally got around to completing a little project that I have been planning for quite some time... a Bassinet Cover for the baby's bassinet. Baby Girl will be using the bassinet that goes along with our Uppa Baby stroller for her main sleeping quarters for the first few months and I just wasn't thrilled with the way the bright shiny red fabric looked with the coral and grey colour scheme I was putting together for her little corner of our master bedroom.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to make this bassinet cover. I knew that I wanted to use two fabrics and that I would need to fit them over top of the existing bassinet canopy. I didn't really measure as I went, but sort of just went with it... I hope this is still a helpful guide if you're interested in creating something similar!

I started by removing the fabric from the bassinet. It basically consists of two fabric panels, and two fabric strips that attach the panels to the frame. I traced both the front and the back panel, leaving a small flap of fabric on the front panel that would tuck under the space that opens for a handle.  Once I had cut the two panels, I pinned them (right sides together) and sewed along the middle. You can see in the picture below that the two panels fit nicely over the original bassinet hood. 

Next, I folded and ironed the section of fabric that would tuck under the handle. To make the bands of fabric that would attach the cover to the upright frame, I cut two strips of fabric, 20 cm wide and about 10 cm longer than necessary. I finished one end of each strip with a seam, pinned and sewed them along the front panel on either side of the handle flap. 

I cut a third strip of fabric that would wrap along the bottom edge of the back panel. I finished one end of this strip with a seam, lined it up with the front panel fabric strip and pinned it in place. It was necessary to do this while the bassinet cover was on the bassinet. I secured this back fabric strip by sewing along the entire length of the strip. Once the front and back fabric strips were in place I finished their outer edges with a simple seam. With the bassinet cover in place, I neatly pinned, tucked and sewed the two fabric strips so that they would look tidy once wrapped under the upright frame. 

With all seams and edges tidied up, I used some adhesive velcro circles to attach the front fabric strip to the underside of the bassinet hood. This way it can easily be removed when traveling or out for a walk.

This project turned out to be pretty simple, albeit not overly easy to explain. I hope it made a bit of sense!

I am happy with the way the Bassinet Cover adds a softer appearance to the bassinet and works with the colour scheme of the "Shared Nursery". Let's hope the new addition likes this bed enough to actually do a bit of sleeping in it!