After sharing my Padded Seat Belt Cover post last week, I got a lot of messages asking how to make these. Today I’m going to share how I made mine, plus show you a second one I made out of gorgeous Umbrella Prints fabric for the Trimmings Competition. Umbrella Prints make printed organic fabric and artworks from their studio in South Australia, and each year run a competition showcasing trimmings from their fabric collection.
This is the pack of trimmings that I bought. I think my favourite piece is the navy elephants but Little Miss loves the aqua pieces so this was a great pack to use on a second seat belt cover for her.
This seat belt cover is reversible so while I like it with the elephants marching down the belt, Little Miss likes the orange hearts and aqua scallops on display.
What You Need
- Two pieces of fabric, 9″ x 6″
- One piece of iron-on pellon (or similar padding) 8.5″ x 5.5″
- Velcro (hook-and-loop fastener) – 8″ piece
- Sewing machine and usual sewing supplies (thread, pins, scissors)
I created my two pieces of fabric from my Umbrella Prints trimmings, but you could easily just use two pieces of fabric. These are 9″ x 6″. My first seat belt cover started with 10″ x 6″ pieces so either size will work fine. If you want to make a cover for a child’s seat belt in a car seat, you could even make your pieces 6″ x 6″.
What To Do
- Cut your fabric pieces
- Iron on the pellon to the wrong side of one piece of fabric
- Pin the fabric pieces right sides together and sew around the outside about 1/4″ in, leaving a gap of about 3″ for turning through
- Clip the corners (like the picture above)
- Turn the cover through and press
- Top stitch around the outside edge as close to the edge as you can to close the gap and create a neat finish
- Separate your piece of Velcro into the hook piece and the loop piece
- Pin one piece along the long edge on one side. Flip the whole cover over and pin the matching Velcro piece on the opposite edge on the other side. (When you wrap the cover around the seat belt the two pieces of Velcro should match up so wrap it to check you have them placed correctly)
- Sew the two pieces of Velcro into place
All done and ready to go on the seat belt. I wrapped our cover so that the Velcro fastening was flat against the seat belt and away from the neck.
Tips
- Velcro is thicker than fabric so I find that I need to sew a little slower than usual to sew it neatly.
- You could quilt your cover after you’ve placed the velcro to add an extra texture.
- My patchwork piecing on this was partly inspired by a new book I bought recently, Quilting Modern. Find it here:
More Easy Sewing Projects to Try
What a great idea! I love the mix of fabrics and the end result? BRILLIANT!!
Thanks, Chantal
This is FABULOUS!!! Love it—definitely making one, or two, or three…….Thank you for having such amazing tuts on your blog!
Thanks Laura! Tutorials are the most popular things I write so I’ve been trying hard to write more of them
Hi Tonya~~Just wanted to say~~~I would love to design a seat belt for a man and I know just how it would close!! He He!! My seat belt covers are those generic black ones~~~so ugly!. I can’t wait to try making some of these in pretty fabrics!!
PS~~~~~I love your blog!
I was just thinking yesterday of replacing my ratty looking seat belt cover with a nice made-by-me one and there you are. Thanks for the post.
Love it. I hate it when the belt rubs against my neck. I’ll have to try this one. Thanks.
wow! These are awesome! I had to go and buy some a couple of years ago for the car because I found the seatbelt digging in too much and not only was it difficult to find decent lookin ones, they weren’t exactly cheap!
I am totally going to try these! 🙂
Thankyou 🙂
Thank you for entering your post in the DP blog carnival 🙂
How cute are they! I’m not much of a crafter but these look like a nice little starting point. DPBC visitor X
Adorable! These would make great kids presents when they move from a baby seat.
This looks so easy! I’ll be making one tonight! for my. daughter, who is a Type 1 Diabetic. I plan on having it embroidered with her name and “Type I Diabetic.
These are great, mine had something similar when they were little.
Looks quick and easy to make to.
They are so beautiful! So I do have a question.. ????
I really would love to have some of these But I don’t have a machine and don’t know how to sew. Is there anyway you can make me some and I pay you for them?
Thanks,Angela ????
Hi Angela,
I’m not making these to sell at the moment but why not try this Etsy shop – she has lots in stock and takes custom orders too: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=10781&awinaffid=243329&clickref=&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsy.com%2Fau%2Fshop%2FBurpieBibsBoutique
Have a great day,
Tonya
Thanks so much for this tutorial; managed to make one for my eldest in no time at all and she is loving it <3