Baby-Related Crafts

Restaurant High Chair Cover

This is another high-frequency request -- along with the grocery cart cover, a lot of people want a high chair seat cover -- for the standard wooden high chairs (shown at right) that one finds at most restaurants these days. While the chairs are pretty cool (I've never seen one tip, and they slide under most tables), they can get pretty disgusting after being used for a while, so I quite understand the desire for a cover!

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

Materials:

• Fabric: You'll need about a yard of 45" wide fabric.I would recommend polar fleece for this project. It's lightweight, soft, and the edges don't strictly need finishing, which is always a plus! If you don't want to use fleece, any printed or solid fabric that will stand up to a fidgity toddler are probably fine. You could use two layers of fabric, sewn right-sides together and then turned, for a finished appearance, or use a pre-quilted fabric for simplicity. It's all up to you :)

Layout:

Most of these high chairs seem to have the same dimensions -- about 12" by 13" by 8", from those I've measured. This cover will be ra ther fluffy, to fit pretty much any chair of the same relative size.

As you can see in the layout drawing, it's a really simple project at heart -- all rectangles. The challenges lie in the finishing details. If you use fleece, you can leave all the raw edges as-is, since they won't fray. If you cut them with pinking sheers, you'll have a slightly more finished-looking product. If you use two layers of cotton (or whatever other fabric you like -- vinyl might be appropriate for messy young diners!), you can sew them inside-out and turn to finish your edges. If you're using pre-quilted fabric, there's always bias tape!

Sewing:

Cut your fabric to the dimensions shown at right, including leg holes and strap slits. (Save the small pieces for other projects... make a matching diaper case, a little cloth bag to hold the cover, or make a simple diaper bag.) If you're using fleece, sew up the sides ( the bolded lines in the drawing -- 5" each), and you're pretty much done! If you're using prequilted fabric, sew up the sides, then finish the raw edges with bias tape. If you're using two layers of regular fabric, sew up the sides on each layer, make a simple folded hem on the leg holes and strap slits, then sew the two layers together, right sides together. Do not sew the leg holes together yet! Clip the corners, then turn right-side-out through the leg holes. Topstitch around the edges, then topstitch the leg holes together, with their wrong sides together. Repeat with strap slits.

Additions to the cover:

Loops to attach toy rings are always helpful, and a pocket in front or in back can be useful, too. You can also put some padding in the seat area -- a couple of squares of fleece, or some quilt batting, will do the job well, or you can actually get chair-pad foam at many craft stores. Any padding will make the cover more bulky and potentially more difficult to store, however.

All content, barring that which is otherwise attributed, is ©2023 to Jan Andrea. If you wish to use my content on another page, please email before doing so, even for content with the Creative Commons licenses. Text/images used elsewhere must be attributed to me. Be advised that I will pursue copyright violations.