No Sew Cart Cover

I don't know why I have such a hard time going shopping by myself with a new baby or babies. With my first born I didn't feel completely comfortable with going somewhere with a little baby until the six month mark. The same thing happened this time around. But now my little ones are older and I come and go all the time with the three of them. The only place I can't go by myself is Sam's. The carts are huge and it's impossible to push a double stroller while pulling that giant cart with my oldest sitting in the front of that one. So I figured the only way I would be able to conquer Sam's by myself is with a cart cover. I'm a bit of a germophobe..some would say I am more than a bit of a germophobe :-)...so I needed something ASAP. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a cover because I just needed one for Sam's. I saw a no-sew cart cover on Pinterest and decided to make one for myself. The only problem is I didn't have the dimensions of a double cart. So what did I do? Well since I didn't have the nerve to go and actually measure, I called them. I know I probably sounded crazy asking this but here's how it went...

Sam's: Thank you for calling Sam's Club how may I help you?

Me: Hi, I have kind of a strange question, but do you know how wide your cart seats are because I want to make a cover for my kids.

Sam's: Uh...I have no idea...could you please hold while I have someone check?

Me: OK.

(Three minutes later...)

Sam's: Umm, everyone is guessing about three feet.

Me: OK. Thanks!

Sam's: You're welcome ~chuckle~

When I got off the phone I felt kind of dumb for calling them, and figured during the three minutes I was on hold they probably had a good laugh. But I have to say, this all happened AFTER I looked online to try to find the dimensions. So the next step in this process was to actually measure because three feet seemed excessive to me. We left the house (hubby was with us) and went to another store by Sam's. Since we were so close my hubby suggested we go and measure the cart. I didn't want to and here is how that conversation went:

Hubby: Why don't we just go? We're right here! You'll be happy that you have the actual measurements!

Me: No. What are we going to do? Just pull up next to a cart and try to measure? Don't you think that's gonna look kind of shady? Anyway, what do we have to measure it with?

Hubby: I don't know...look in the glove box.

Me: The only thing in here that we could maybe use is a bank deposit envelope.

Hubby: OK.

So we pull into the back of the parking lot where a stray cart is parked. I tell hubby he's gonna measure it because it was his idea to do this.

Hubby: Fine...I don't care.

Me: What if someone asks us what we're doing? They'll just see you standing there with an envelope in front of a cart and you'll say "Oh I'm measuring for a cart cover". They won't believe you...

Then I start laughing because he looked at me like I was crazy. Anyway he's measuring away and tells me to start speaking into the phone with the talk to text. So I did and it kept coming up with some really funny things that weren't even close to what I was saying. So then I call home and leave the message on my voicemail and we proceed on to Joann's.

A couple of days go by and I notice Hobby Lobby has Simplicity patterns on sale for .99 so I decide to look through my patterns before I buy more. What do you suppose I find? A PATTERN FOR A DOUBLE CART COVER!!! All I could do was laugh. So I put the pattern on my fleece and cut out the leg holes. That's the only thing I needed to know out of this whole ridiculous process! Which by the way I looked "double cart cover" up online too and the only thing I could find was patterns with two leg holes not four that was big enough to cover a double cart.

Anyway, here's what I did:

I cut my fleece 56"x56". Measure up 18" and this is where the bottom of the leg hole begins. I folded my fabric in half for the cutting of the leg holes. Go in 1" from the fold and cut a 5"x5" square. Go over 1" to the left and cut another 5"x5" square (although if I were to make another one I think I'd go over 2"). From the center of the leg hole measure up 12" and make a 3" slit. Repeat for other leg hole. This will give you a place to pull the straps through from the cart.

Now you're ready for the ties. While your fabric is still together cut a 4"x4" square out of the end corners (NOT the folded side!). This will make everything look tidier when you're finished. Then just start cutting 4" high by 1" wide strips all the way around. Then open it up and start knotting.

I know this says no sew, but I did sew...I had to do some reinforcing. All of the cut areas seemed too flimsy so I basically did a zigzag stitch around the leg holes and the slits for the buckles. Now it's all done...finally! So I had to try it out. I really had no reason to go to Sam's other than to see if everything turned out OK. So here we go again...

Me: We need to get out of here before they close!

Hubby: Do we actually need anything?

Me: No.

Hubby: ~Blank Stare~

We get to Sam's...

Me: Start getting them out of the carseat while I get a cart.

A few carts later...

Hubby: What are you doing?

Me: What is the deal with these stupid carts? The first one only had three belts, the second one had four belts but one of the buckles is broken. Oh, here's one where the buckles are fine...wait a minute! It only has one seat thing! Whatever, lets just put them in there so I can take a picture.

Hubby: OK.

Babies get put into the cart and I take a picture, then my oldest says, "Can I get in?"

Me: Yeah go ahead. We're gonna go in.

Hubby: I thought you said we didn't need anything.

Me: We don't but I don't want to be seen putting on a cart cover and taking pictures then getting in the van and leaving. I'm sure there is something we need.

Hubby: ~Silence~

A few minutes and a pack of Pepsi later...Here is the cart cover:

Wasn't it worth it? You can actually tie the little ties to the cart so it won't move. I think I'm going to sew a little loop to the top so toys can be attached, but as for now I'm done with this project!

I have the dimensions to the cart and I will post that info seperately in a post called "Double shopping cart dimensions", so that if some poor mom is looking for that information, she won't have the same crazy experiance that I had.

Although it is kind of funny!

Apple