Should You Make Your Child’s Lovey a Sleep Sack?

I am only 28 and I already have a granddaughter. Her name is Lumpy, she weighs 4 oz, and she is an elephant blanket lovey. My 2 1/2 year old is a great mom. She gives Lumpy naps, baths, and diaper changes every day. Being the concerned elephant-mom she is, one night at bedtime she asked that Lumpy got a sleep sack just like hers. I couldn’t let my poor granddaughter be cold at night, so I just had to make her one. Should you make your child’s lovey a sleep sack?

How to Make Your Child’s Lovey a Sleep Sack

Supplies:

• Cardstock
• Zipper
• 2 pieces of fabric -check out 5 Ways to Get Fabric For Free or Cheap
• Thread
• Sewing machine – this did take some sewing, but I promise its not too hard. Keep in mind that this is for a stuffed animal so it doesn’t have to turn out perfect.

Setup:

To start, I needed a pattern. Don’t tell my daughter, but we actually have 3 copies of Lumpy. So, while she was in bed, I took an extra and traced around her. I made sure I left about an inch all the way around for the eventual seam. Then, I folded it in half and made sure that it was symmetrical and marked the mid point. I cut it out and voila there was my super fancy pattern. Here is a copy of mine, but depending on the size of your toddler’s lovey you will probably need to make your own.

To avoid needing to buy a zipper, I improvised and took one off an old sheet bag I had kept just in case.

Creating:

The first thing I needed to do was get all my pieces cut out. I took the pattern I made and cut out two copies of it. One I kept as is to use as the back of the sleep sack. Once I cut in half along the dotted line on the pattern to use as the two halves of the front of the sleep sack.

Then I sewed the zipper on, which was the hardest part. I took one of the front side halves and folded over a seam on the middle edge. Next, I pinned the zipper on the newly created seam. I then did the same thing to the other side of the front. After it was all pinned, I took the sewing machine and sewed it. Once I got to the top I folded, over the zipper and sewed it back and forth multiple times so the zipper couldn’t zip right off.

Then I folded over and pinned both the arm and head holes over and sewed them down.

Finally I placed the front and back sides pattern-sides together and sewed around everything but the arm and head holes. I then flipped it right side out and had a sleep sack just right for an elephant.

I absolutely love how cute this turned out and I sleep much better at night knowing my grand-elephant is warm.