Before I had Mina, the thought of winter travel never intimidated me. I envisioned stuffing her into a marshmallowesque winter coat and then squeezing her, snug-as-a-bug, into her car seat before heading off into the Winter Wonderland of Northeast Ohio. Sure, she'd probably be able to move about as well as Ralphie's little brother, but she'd be warm. And then I read about new standards concerning babies, car seats, and winter coats. Apparently, big, puffy winter coats and car seats are not a match made in heaven, as I previous thought they were. According to federal safety guidelines, the heavy winter coats we pile our kiddies into may actually diminish the effectiveness of the car seat harness in the case of an accident and will allow baby to rattle around inside the car seat like a ping pong ball. Since the point of car seats is to protect babies during accidents, this newfound knowledge set me to thinking: How could I keep baby warm while also keeping her safe?
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| Bundle Me |
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| Tivoli |
There are several products on the market to keep babies warm in their car seats without adding extra padding between the baby and her harness. For $50, you can get the JJ Cole Bundle Me from Babies 'R Us or, for $70, you can get the Tivoli Couture Car Seat Cover, which pretty much does the same thing for the added cost of being "couture." My issue with both of these, aside from their price, is they either entirely restrict baby's movement, as the Tivoli does by leaving nothing but the head exposed, or they expose the arms and shoulders to potentially frigid weather. I wanted to cover Mina with something that would cover her shoulders and chest while also leaving her arms free to play with toys or randomly flail, as she's so fond of doing. While there are other options available, nothing on the market met my needs, and so, as the nascent seamstress that I am, I took to the sewing machine to construct what I call the Stroller Snuggie...or Snuggler, if we're trying to avoid copyright infringement.
My pattern, largely inspired by the one seen
here, is really quite simple. Picture a Snuggie, and then miniaturize it to fit a baby. I won't bore my readers by going into the nitty-gritty details of how to make one of these (unless you really want me to) other than to say it only takes "a yard" of blizzard fleece and about an hour of time (including interruptions for chasing after baby). I say "a yard" because that's what I ask for at the fabric counter, but really, I start with a piece of fabric that is about 36" x 60" and pare it down to a square 36"x 36" using the rest of the fabric to construct the arms and a matching hat. I used a yard of blizzard fleece and a yard of regular fleece in an accenting color for my first attempt and ended up making what I refer to as the Deep-Freeze Arctic Stroller Snuggler. Unless you live in a region where the temperature regularly dips under 25 degrees below zero, you probably don't need a lined Snuggler. Mina was literally sweating within minutes of putting this thing on, and so we only use it on very rare occasions. I made a second that is constructed of a yard of blizzard fleece and find it to be just about perfect for our climate. It's warm enough to keep Mina comfy when we venture outside, but it's cool enough that we don't have to snatch it off of her as soon as we head indoors. With that said, however, we do make sure to take it off if we're going to be spending any significant amount of time inside. This fleece is an excellent insulator and traps a lot of body heat. More than 30 minutes indoors under this thing, and Mina's sweating. The nice thing about the Snuggler is it meets all of Mina's winter travel needs: it sufficiently covers her arms, chest, and shoulders while also providing her the mobility to be able to play with toys or just flail about.
My pattern, largely inspired by the one seen here, is really quite simple. Picture a Snuggie, and then miniaturize it to fit a baby. I won't bore my readers by going into the nitty-gritty details of how to make one of these (unless you really want me to) other than to say it only takes "a yard" of blizzard fleece and about an hour of time (including interruptions for chasing after baby). I say "a yard" because that's what I ask for at the fabric counter, but really, I start with a piece of fabric that is about 36" x 60" and pare it down to a square 36"x 36" using the rest of the fabric to construct the arms and a matching hat. I used a yard of blizzard fleece and a yard of regular fleece in an accenting color for my first attempt and ended up making what I refer to as the Deep-Freeze Arctic Stroller Snuggler. Unless you live in a region where the temperature regularly dips under 25 degrees below zero, you probably don't need a lined Snuggler. Mina was literally sweating within minutes of putting this thing on, and so we only use it on very rare occasions. I made a second that is constructed of a yard of blizzard fleece and find it to be just about perfect for our climate. It's warm enough to keep Mina comfy when we venture outside, but it's cool enough that we don't have to snatch it off of her as soon as we head indoors. With that said, however, we do make sure to take it off if we're going to be spending any significant amount of time inside. This fleece is an excellent insulator and traps a lot of body heat. More than 30 minutes indoors under this thing, and Mina's sweating. The nice thing about the Snuggler is it meets all of Mina's winter travel needs: it sufficiently covers her arms, chest, and shoulders while also providing her the mobility to be able to play with toys or just flail about. 
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