Baby-Related Crafts

Quick and easy umbrella stroller accessories: Storage bag and water bottle holder

I'm mostly a slinging mom, but when we went out for a whole, long day, sometimes my toddler preferred to ride in the stroller. And DH prefers to push the baby in the stroller anyway. Well, we have three strollers, but only one is suitable for public transportation -- the $10 umbrella stroller. You can get fancier umbrella strollers these days, but we didn't know about them when we bought ours 4 years ago. It is completely no-frills -- no storage at all. However, it does fold up really small, and that makes it great to take on the bus or the subway. And yet, I still need storage! I bought one of those mesh stroller bags, but it broke pretty early on. And I bought a cupholder, but it broke, too. So I thought, geez, why don't I just make those out of some of the scraps from my fabric stash? And of course, then I have to put them up on the webpage :)

This pattern is copyright to me (Jan Andrea) and is NOT for resale under ANY circumstances!

Materials needed:

• Fabric:
  • I used some nylon that I'd bought a long time ago when I was making a kite. Nylon is good for the water bottle holder because it dries quickly, but if you don't have nylon, pretty much any scrap is fine. I used the same nylon for the storage bag, because it's fairly sturdy.
  • I don't think I'd necessarily recommend calico, unless these will get fairly light usage, or you intend to make them double-layered/reversible. Calico is pretty, but just doesn't stand up to wear.
  • the storage bag needs two 12" by 16" pieces. You can also make it deeper if you want to; mine is 12" by 16" because that's the size of the nylon pieces I had left :) You can use ribbon for the ties, or make self-fabric ties with two 12" by 3" pieces. If you wanted to get fancy, you could use hook-and-loop tape, too, but it works fine if you just tie the bag on. Note: it's a good idea to measure the distance between handles on your stroller, just in case they are wider than mine. If they are, keep that in mind when cutting your fabric.
  • the water bottle holder I made used a 12" by 10" piece for the case, and 6" by 3" for the hanging tab. That holds a Rubbermaid 1-quart bottle -- the kind with vertical ridges and a grey top with a straw that hinges out. A standard 16-oz or 20-oz sports bottle will require less fabric. I would recommend grabbing the bottle you'll be using this with, and just using it to measure how much fabric you'll need -- wrap the fabric around it loosely, and mark where it overlaps.
• One snap (4 pieces), or a button and buttonhole, or a small piece of hook-and-loop tape.
• Matching thread
• Around an hour of your time, depending on your sewing knowledge

Directions:

Note: All seam allowances are 1/2 an inch.

Storage bag:

1. Cut out your pieces.
2. Sew the ties -- fold the pieces in half lengthwise, so you have a 12" by 1.5" piece. Leave a small hole for turning, in the middle of the strips. Turn both ends through the hole. No need to sew up the hole -- it will be taken care of when the tie is attached to the bag. Fold the ties in half widthwise.
3. Put the two bag pieces right-sides together, and pin the ties in about 2 inches from what will be the top of the bag, with the fold at the seam allowance.
4. Sew around the edges, leaving the top free.
5. If you are using a button, make a buttonhole in the middle, centered between where the ties are sewn in (or do this step between steps 2 and 3)
6. Make a hem around the top, leaving ties free, so that the ties are at the top of the bag (as shown in the first picture)
7. If you are using snaps, attach the snaps now; if using hook-and-loop tape, same thing. If using a button, sew it on, too.
8. Tie the bag to your stroller, just in front of the crossed bars but below the handles. The lower it is, the less chance there is of the stroller tipping backwards from too much weight in the bag.

Water bottle holders:

1. Cut out your pieces. I made two bags, because we'll be using the stroller in Washington, DC, in August, and I anticipate drinking a lot of water! Plus, if you make two, you can use one for water and one for snacks or whatnot.
2. Sew the hanging tab -- just fold the 6" by 3" strip in half lengthwise (so it's 6" by 1.5") and stitch the long edge. Turn.
3. Sew the body of the holder: fold the fabric in half so that it's 6" by 10" (or whatever your measurement was) and sew along two of the three raw edges, leaving the top open.
4. You can make the corners look neater by sewing across them using the method described here, but it's not necessary.
5. To attach the tab to the body of the holder, line up the raw edges as shown at right. Fold the pieces down about 3/4", then fold the tab up. Stitch along the edge (using a zig-zag stitch to keep the raw edge from fraying) and reinforce the tab's attachment by sewing a little square around it.
6. To attach the bottle holder to the stroller, pull the body of the holder through the loop. Voila, a simple bottle holder with no plastic parts to break!

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