This one has quilting cotton on the outside, knit jersey for the lining and the wadding was salvaged from one of the kids old polar fleece blankets! I held onto their old blankets when I made them all new ones this year for purposes just like this. Feels much better to re-use rather than throw them all out.
As much as Harvey loves his sleeping bags (he snuggles his head into it when he sees one!) he does NOT like putting one on when it is not sleeping time!
And here’s a close-up of the chin-guard over the end of the zipper to prevent any of the cold, hard zipper touching baby’s skin. Actually, the zipper guard goes right down inside the bag – I haven’t got a photo of it but take a look at my tester Peta’s Baby Dream Bag. It is just gorgeous and shows off the zipper guard really well.
Do you love sleeping bags for your baby? All of my babies have slept with them and they have become a part of their night-time routine, Harvey needed a couple more to go on rotation so instead of buying a new one I thought it would be best to design a pattern of one and have the freedom to choose my own fabrics and thicknesses!
The Baby Dream Bag is essential to ensuring a good night’s sleep. You will sleep soundly knowing that your baby is covered all night long without kicking off blankets and waking themselves and everyone else up.
Baby Dream Bag includes a full-length zipper guard with generous chin protection, ensuring that baby’s soft skin and inquisitive fingers aren’t able to access the zipper.
Night-time nappy changes are made easy by zipping the bag from the bottom up.
By sewing your own Baby Dream Bag, you have control over how warm you want the sleeping bag to be. Whether you leave out the wadding for a summer-weight bag or make it with the warmest layers you can find, you will easily be able to customise the sleeping bag to suit your needs and climate.
Making these Dream Bags is so rewarding, it’s always satisfying to sew something that is going to be used over and over and over again…and at the moment Harvey spends about 14 out of 24 hours sleeping in his sleeping bag so I think it’s well worth putting the effort into! For our winter climate at the moment, I’m making his Baby Dream Bag using quilting cotton for the exterior, polar fleece or wadding for the warm layer and knit jersey for the lining. They are cosy and warm, but still lightweight, allowing him to move around as he needs to in his cot.
The great thing about making your own Baby Dream Bag is that you have complete control over what your bag looks like, how warm it is and how it feels…choose from any woven fabric for the exterior. For the lining you can use quilt wadding, polar fleece, flannelette, or even repurpose an old blanket! And the lining can be made using a woven fabric, flannelette or a soft knit fabric. If you want your Baby Dream Bag to be for Summer weather, you can leave the warm layer out altogether! Have fun experimenting with your own unique fabric combos and creating a sleeping bag different from any other!
The Baby Dream Bag is like a wearable blanket, it can’t be pulled up over baby’s head or get tangled up like a regular blanket can and will keep baby at a comfortable temperature all night long. I love using sleeping bags with my babies because they can wake up during the night, have a cry and move around the cot then fall back to sleep without me having to sneak in and make sure they are tucked in. They also become a part of the bedtime routine, which makes traveling and sleeping away from home so much easier.
My babies have all used sleeping bags from around 6 months (when I stop swaddling them) until 18-24 months. I know that many people use baby sleeping bags from newborn age right up until 3 years so the Baby Dream Bag pattern includes sizes from 0-36 months!
The Baby Dream Bag is available as an Instant Download PDF pattern here. It is on sale for $10 (usually $12) for the rest of this week! (Discount price offer ends on Sunday 25th May.)
Paper copies of the pattern will be heading to shops very soon if you prefer to purchase a hard copy of the pattern.
