How to sew a cocoon for a newborn with your own hands: photos, patterns

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Probably, every newly-made mother worries about her beloved child being safe every second and staying in the most comfortable conditions. But, alas, women do not always have the opportunity to be with the child all the time. They, like other people, need to have personal space and time for a snack, shower or going to the toilet (yes, until the baby is about a year and a half, even such an elementary household action turns into a hike).

If a mother does not have a person at hand who will replace her at the “post” day and night, she will have to leave the child alone with herself anyway. To protect it, and give yourself the opportunity to do the necessary things, you can and should use the inventions of our time, which greatly facilitate parenthood. Among them, cocoons for newborns stand out. What is it and where to get itsuch a thing - this will be discussed in our article.

What is it about?

First of all, we should clarify the topic of the issue under discussion. In a huge list of accessories that facilitate the care of children in the first year of life, there are several products that are similar in purpose, but differ in appearance, the way they are used:

• Baby Cocoon Diaper is a textile product with fasteners, tailored according to a special pattern. With it, the baby can be wrapped, limiting his movements, which is especially good for a restful sleep of the child.
• Envelope - a warm blanket equipped with latches that prevent the envelope from opening and “moving out” from its place.
• Baby Carrier - This is a fabric cradle with handles with a hard bottom, in which the newborn can be transported over short distances.
• Baby Cocoon Nest is a drawstring padded mattress that has many uses and is what we'll be talking about next.

Nest is the know-how of foreign manufacturers of goods for children, which has been adopted by mothers around the world. Domestic women also use it with success, moreover, many of them have learned to make such products with their own hands. The cocoon for newborns is very easy to make, and besides, it is a very useful thing. Even a novice seamstress can cope with such work, and therefore it is worth trying to sew a nest on your own in order to please both yourself and your baby with a very successfulacquisition.

Use cases

The main purpose for which cocoons for newborns are used is to ensure a comfortable sleep for the child. This accessory at first can replace the traditional cradle or crib. Moreover, it will be convenient for those parents who sleep with the child in the same bed, but are worried that they will harm the baby through negligence. The child, who is in the cocoon, is reliably protected by high sides, so he will feel comfortable on the large parental bed, and mom and dad will be able to relax without worrying that they will accidentally crush him in his sleep.

But cocoons for newborns are loved by children not only during sleep. Kids are not averse to lying in their nest during the day, looking at the world around them. And when the child grows up, he will be able to develop his physical skills while in a cocoon, for example, roll over on his tummy and rise on his arms, leaning on the soft sides.

Cocoon sizes

Manufacturers offer finished products in three versions that are suitable for children of different ages:

• from birth to six months;
• from 6 months to a year and a half;
• from one to three years.

They all have the same design, and they differ only in size. To make the child feel comfortable, cocoons for newborns are made small. So they flow around the body of the baby, providing him with warmth and a feeling of hugging. Therefore, if a child gets used to sleeping in a nest from birth, it will have to be changed over time.for a larger size, and this is another argument in favor of the fact that mom needs to know how to sew a cocoon for newborns with her own hands.

Materials for tailoring

A nest is a relatively inexpensive craft, to create which you need to prepare a piece of fabric for a base case, filler, cord, retainer, braid or bias trim for a drawstring.

The pattern of a cocoon for a newborn is presented a little lower. You can print it out or draw it yourself according to the sample we have proposed. You don't need a lot of fabric for this product. It is enough to prepare a piece one meter long with a width of 1.5 meters. Usually, the cocoon is sewn from coarse calico or satin - these are natural cotton materials that are safe for the delicate skin of the baby and quite durable. The product will turn out more beautiful if you use fabric with different colors for the top and bottom of the nest.

It is best to fill the cocoon with synthetic winterizer or siliconized fiber. You can use both - make the bottom from a sheet synthetic winterizer, and fill the sides with bulk silicone or holofiber.

Cocoon patterns

The scheme according to which the product will be sewn is of two types. This is either a pattern of half of the nest, which is laid out on a fabric folded in half, or a solid pattern. The top image in this section shows the first option. To transfer the pattern, it is placed on the fabric, while it must be taken into account that the left edge of the pattern is the line of the middle of the cocoon, and it must bealign with the fold of the material.

On the second picture is a full-size pattern of a cocoon for a newborn. You can draw it with your own hands very quickly. Scheme A is directly a cocoon, and in figure B is a pattern of a mattress-liner. A more detailed diagram is below.

When the product pattern on paper is ready, it should be pinned to the fabric and outlined, adding allowances for the seams. Then, on the front side of the product, it is necessary to mark a line for stitching the bottom of the cocoon with a crayon or a textile pen.

Open

The bottom and top of the nest are cut out separately. So that the stitching of the details of the rounded sections does not cause difficulties, notches are made at the points of maximum bending. The cuts should not go to the product itself, but pass only along the allowances.

The cocoon for newborns should be pulled together with a cord, for this, along the perimeter of the side, you need to make a drawstring into which the cord is inserted. This can be done in two ways:

1. Cut out a ribbon 5-6 cm wide, equal in length to the circumference of the cocoon rim, plus 2-3 cm for cutting.
2. Sew on the nest directly above the seam of the lower and upper parts of the braid or bias tape so that the first line runs over the side, and the other - from the bottom.

If the first option is selected, then the cord will be hidden inside the nest. A piece of fabric for the drawstring is folded in half and stitched, then a lace is inserted into it. For the convenience of the subsequentWhen using the product, the rope must immediately be threaded inside the formed drawstring and leveled so that its center is located in the middle of the tape. Then it is secured with a sewing machine, this will help prevent the tie from slipping out in the future.

You can also immediately cut out a synthetic winterizer for a mattress. The number of cuts will depend on the thickness of the material. If it is a thick synthetic winterizer, you may need two pieces, a thin one will take about three. The approximate size of the cuts is 30x62 cm. The corners of the filler in the upper part must be rounded so that they do not bulge inside the product.

Product assembly

Thus, do-it-yourself cocoon-nest for newborns is cut. It remains only to sew all the elements together.

1. Fold top and bottom pieces face to face. If the drawstring is inside, lay the ribbon with the cord around the circumference and baste it with contrasting threads or pin it with pins. Then the two parts and the tape with the tightening are sewn together so that small holes on the sides and bottom of the bottom remain unstitched. In the case when the cord will be inserted on top, a braid is sewn on the front side, as described in the previous section.
2. Further, the bottom of the cocoon is cut from the face along the lines marked during cutting. Now our product is almost finished. It remains only to fill it.
3. First, you need to put the synthetic winterizer into the bottom and quilt it in stripes or rhombuses so that the filler does not move out. Then comes the turn of the sides. They need to be gradually filled.silicone, distributing it evenly throughout the pipe.
4. When this stage is completed, the unsewn edges are sewn up and their cuts are decorated with piping. If the cord goes over the top, you can insert the cord into the drawstring by attaching it to a safety pin. The ends of the rope are threaded into the latch and pulled together. To keep their edges from fraying, they can be melted a little over the fire and decorated with tips.

Advice! The bottom does not have to be filled with synthetic winterizer; siliconized fiber is also sometimes poured into it. In order to be able to add silicone into the cocoon in the future, the lower section of the bottom is not completely sewn up, but a hidden zipper is inserted into it.

How to fill a cocoon for a newborn?

In general, we have already answered this question in the course of the article. The most commonly used materials are:

• holofiber;
• synthetic winterizer;
• ball silicone.

These are safe hypoallergenic materials that are not afraid of frequent washing and dry quickly. Parasitic microorganisms and bacteria do not start in these fillers, which is their undeniable advantage. However, they also have a minus - fragility, but in the case of a cocoon for newborns, this is not important. Sintepon and silicone do not go astray for two to three years of constant operation, which is quite enough for the time of using the accessory.

Tightening and fixation

There are models of cocoons that are not pulled together with a lace or ribbon. The sides are closed together with the help of a trident fastener on snaps (fastex). Usually they are put on industrial products, but such a latch can be made independently.

For it, you need to purchase about one meter of belt braid to match the fabric from which the cocoon will be sewn, as well as the fastex itself. The details of the fastener are revealed, then each of them must be fastened to the tape using a sewing machine. It is best to attach it with a zigzag. Next, the straps from the belt braid are sewn to the sides of the cocoon. So that they do not hang out in the open position, loops are made on the cocoon approximately in the middle of their length, through which the details of the strip are passed.

Mattress

Often finished nests are completed with a variety of accessories. Usually this is a mattress insert and a baby pillow. It is these elements that most often complement the cocoon for a newborn. How to sew these items, and are they needed at all? As for the pillow, pediatricians and pediatric orthopedists have no consensus. Most doctors say that babies under three years of age are strictly forbidden to put anything under their heads during sleep. But a spare mattress in a cocoon will not be superfluous. Sewing it is even easier than the nest itself for a newborn, you can use the same pattern, but you should cut out the details of the mattress without beads.

Special accessories

In addition to the improved clasp and replaceable mattress, the cocoon can be “thinked out” usinghandles to make it easy to carry your baby. They, like the retainer, are sometimes adjusted over the fabric, cutting out from the belt braid. It is also allowed to make handles from the same fabric from which the cocoon itself is made. Then they need to be sewn at the stage of assembling the product, putting their tips into the seam of the bottom and top of the nest.

To avoid frequent washing of the cocoon, it can be dressed in a large pillowcase. It is best to sew it yourself, choosing the optimal size of the “clothes”, as well as a fabric that is pleasant to the touch.

We hope that our advice will help mothers and their babies relax more often and comfortably. Happy needlework and success in creativity!