Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Stay! Please?!

Do you spend your dinner time chasing after a child who doesn't want to stay at the dinner table? ::raise's hand:: I do! With everything going on with Ms. Belle (see this post) it was really hard for me to let her sit at the dinner table by herself. I was never sure that she'd be safe. OK...she hasn't ever seized at the dinner table but there is a chance and I'm kind of a worrier. :( She nixed the high chair just after her first birthday and has been "sitting" at the real table with us ever since. I needed something to rein her in, keep her in her place and maybe eat a little something while she was there.

Then I remembered this little tutorial I had stumbled upon a couple months back. You can see the whole thing here. Carrie is a genius! This was just what I needed. So I whipped one up with some extra fabric I had from reupholstering these chairs. And some pink minke flat I've been hoarding. Yeah! The real stuff, not from JoAnn's (not that there is anything wrong with it) this stuff is just a bit more plush. Definitely a difference in the quality! I don't remember why I bought it but I never used it. Why not use it now?



Literally the whole thing took about an hour WITH two children doing laps around my legs! Super straight forward and instantly gratifying. I followed the tute but just changed one thing. Because I used the minke on the inside of it I needed for it to not be on the flap when I folded it over because food would get on it and it would need to be washed every other day. So I made 2 squares 10 x 11 1/4 and stitched them together using a half inch seam allowance and used that piece (half minke, half cotton covered vinyl) for the inside of the bottom flap. So it is soft on her tooshie but when you fold it over you can wipe the top half clean!

I think she likes it!

When I showed it to her and strapped her into her chair she looked up at and me and with the biggest most genuine smile on her face she said in her tiny little voice, "thank you Mommy!" As I lifted the camera to my eye I could hear the velcro ripping off. Hailey helped her escape! And off they went running and laughing as only sisters do! So I took these pics the following morning while Hailey was at school and there was no one to help her escape.



The best thing about this little high chair strap is that I can take it with me anywhere, it is machine washable and completely adjustable. You really could put any baby into it that is sitting well on their own. Thanks Carrie for this genius idea!

Love and Hugs,







PS. See that RED chair in the background of the first picture? I finally dyed the slip covers! I like the color but I'm not entirely happy with the saturation so I will need to re-dye them. Also when I was putting the second one back on the zipper popped and I can't get it to go back in so I need to take it to the cleaners and see if it is salvageable or if I need to replace the zipper.

Linking up with..
giveaways







And...









And...








And...

And...






Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!
And...




And...
UndertheTableandDreaming 
And...
Photobucket
And...
mmm button

9 comments:

The Mayo Bunch said...

i love it! secondly, are those black blinds? i love love black blinds

Jessica said...

They are not...dark cherry color to match our cabinets. Never thought to do black but I think the dust would show up even more on the black!

Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

This is great, and I LOVE that it matches the dining room chairs. Thanks for the link to the tutorial.

Lorie said...

What a clever idea! And how useful that would be at restaurants!!

Thanks for linking it up to Show and Tell Saturday!!

Delia said...

I made one of these too but my youngest won't stay in it! :( I like your fabric. Very pretty!

Julia said...

I made one of these, too, for my nephew. My SIL uses it all the time! Yours turned out beautiful:).

~Julia

Joyfulmama said...

Great job! I recently reviewed a pocket-size fabric high chair for a local company here in Cape Town South Africa and think you may enjoy having a look at the post. You could very easilsy copy the pattern to make a similar one that folds up flat and fits into your purse quite easily - because it fits over just about any chair, I find mine quite handy when meeting friends for a cup of tea or going out for dinner. If you like it, let me know, and I can always e-mail you a photo of the open fbaric so you can see how to cut it. Here is he link to my post: http://joyfulmamasplace.blogspot.com/2010/06/joyful-mamas-favourite-finds-dizzy-dots.html

Joyfulmama said...

sorry, I just saw all the typos in that comment. My children are taking a short nap and I try to cram as much blogging time as possible in while I can, so I typed that in a hurry. I'm guessing you can relate..!

Unknown said...

what a GREAT idea! come on over and link up to MMM :)