Over the last few months our electric bill has been going up. Technically, ever since E was born. Which is when our laundry needs went through the roof. Cloth diapers are awesome in a lot of ways, but running the dryer that much is pricey! So, I decided that we need a clothes line. And in order to have a chance at hanging laundry, we need a baby swing.
We could buy one. I mean they make swings. Clearly. But this is me that we're talking about. If it's possible to make something, I will. So I did some Pintresting and didn't find any tutorial that fully met what I was wanting. There was one that was close, but all the measurements were metric. Yikes. So here is my version. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: As with anything that supports the weight of your child, please use care with your stitching and supplies that you select. Inspect the swing prior to each use and do not use it if any seams or fabric are fraying. Check your ropes and connections to keep your baby safe. Make modifications to the design as needed to be comfortable with the safety of your child.
Supplies Needed:
Sewing:
- 1 yard Outdoor Canvas for Outer Fabric
- 1 yard Outdoor Canvas for Inner Fabric
- 16 KAM snaps & pliers (or snaps of your choice)
- Miscellaneous Ribbons &/or embellishments
Step 1: Cut out your Pieces
For the Seat:
- 14" x 36" Seat Base/Sides from both Outer & Inner Fabric
- 11" x 14" Seat Front from both Outer & Inner Fabric
- 11" x 14" Seat Back from both Outer & Inner Fabric
- Four 2.5" x 5" Snap Tabs of both Outer & Inner Fabric
- Three to five 8" Ribbon Pieces (Optional)
- One to two Plastic Suspender Clasps (Optional)
- 8 KAM Snaps
For the Pillow:
- 9" x 17" Outer Fabric
- 9" x 11" Inner Fabric
- 9" x 9" Inner Fabric
- 12" x 18" Outdoor Pillow Form (Or rectangle size of your choice)
- 3 KAM Snaps
Step 2: Sewing The Seat
Pin tabs fabric right sides together. Sew on three sides, leaving a long side raw. Trim sewn seams with pinking shears to prevent fraying or finish edge with a serger. Turn right side out and press. Top stitch along three sewn sides to finish.
Layout the leg holes on the wrong side of the Outer Fabric front seat piece (as shown below). Find the center of the bottom and mark 1 1/4" from the center in each direction. Mark another 2.5" from each of the first marks. Those are the bottoms of the leg holes. Measure up 4" from each of your marks, then add a 1" Radius semi-circle at the top of each of your 4" lines. Connect the lines to finish the semi-circled leg holes. These lines are your CUT LINES, not your sew lines. You'll sew 1/2" outside the semi-circles.
Pin your marked piece to the corresponding Inner Fabric piece with a Snap Tab 1" from the bottom edge, right sides together.
Be sure to place a pin in each of the leg holes to stabilize those pieces when you stitch. Stitch the short sides as well as the semi-circled leg holes. Leave the top & bottom of the pieces raw.
Cut along your leg hole drawn cut lines with pinking shears to prevent fraying. Also, pink the side Seams.
Clip the inner corners of the leg hole curved areas close to the seam without cutting the seam. This will allow you to turn the pieces right side out without puckers in the material.
Turn right sides out & press seams flat. Press a 1/2" of both the Outer & Inner fabric's top towards each other. Pin any embellishments you selected into the fold created by the pressing. Top stitch around the sides & across the top, still leaving the bottom edge of the piece raw.
Place the Outer & Inner back pieces right sides together. Again, pin your Snap Tab pieces one inch from the bottom on each side right sides together. Stitch on three sides, leaving the bottom side raw. Trim seams with pinking shears.
Locate the mid-point of the 14x36" seat base/side Outer Fabric piece. Place the seat front piece centered on that mid-point, right sides together. Pin.
Repeat this with the seat back piece (find mid point of 14x36" seat base/sides. Pin the back piece in position, right sides together). Lay the Inner Fabric on top, right sides together. Pin.
Sew around perimeter, leaving a 5-6" opening. Trim seams with pinking shears,
Turn right sides out. Press seams flat. Top stitch.
Fold top edges of each piece down 2" toward Outer Fabric. Pin. (If desired, turn your ribbons toward the top. I didn't do this until later, so look ahead at the last picture of this post to see this)
Sew securely. I used parallel seams with a zigzag stitch between them. This creates the pockets for the dowel rods and will take the bulk of the weight. I wanted to be sure to have redundancies in this seam.
Lay out & mark your positions for the KAM snaps. I placed mine 1/2" from the top & bottom edge of the Snap Tabs as shown below.
Notice the side dowel pockets are higher than the front & back. That is intentional as the front & back rods will support the side rods. This will make more sense later, I promise.
Step 3: The Pillow (Optional)
Similar to how you made the plywood pocket, fold the short sides of the Inner Fabric pieces 1/2" down. Press. Fold down another 1/2". Press again. Stitch the pressed sides down to secure those edges. (Step not shown)
Place the two Inner Fabric pieces on the Outer Fabric piece, right sides together, overlapping the inner pieces. This will create a rectangle. Stitch around the perimeter. Turn right sides out.
Mark locations & install 3 KAM snaps. Stuff with pillow insert and snap closed. Note: I used a pillow much larger than the sham I made mostly because that's the pillow form I had. It resulted in a very firm pillow, which I liked.
ADMIRE YOUR WORK! You are done with the sewing part of this project! We'll be getting to the hardware installation & hanging of the swing soon.
I can hardly wait to get E into this swing and clip some of her toys to it so she can play! Even if I don't attach toys to it, I know she'll enjoy the texture of the ribbons. (Note: the picture below shows a plywood base cushion. When I tried out the swing with my little one, I decided the base made her too unstable, and she was more secure using the seat bottom alone as a hammock for her rump.)
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