Umbrella Stroller Recover

I have these two umbrella strollers that. are. hideous. period. One I've had since Katie was a baby - it was gifted to us for her baby shower and was bought at a garage sale. It wasn't all that bad, I guess. Just not what I pictured for Katie. The second stroller was bought from Savers, a for-profit thrift shop. I used the stroller once and decided that there was absolutely no way I could cope with the fabric. And not only was the fabric bad, but the stroller itself was painted to match the fabric. Ugh! Check this out:

Yikes. There are no words to describe how ugly this is to me.

So I decided to recover it. And since I was recovering the hideous one, I decided to recover Katie's, too (the one with the okay fabric). I have to thank Laura Thoughts for inspiration and confidence I needed to get the project started...and finished :o)

I headed over to my local Hancock Fabrics to pick out something a little more...stylish. I ended up with some cotton fabric that was less stylish, but fun, cute, and not remotely as offensive to my eyes (with coordinating bias tape and strap material). I got the fabric home and started my project. First, I took all the screws out that held on the fabric, about 8 screws on each stroller. One had to be drilled out. I took the original stroller seat fabric and ripped the seams that I needed to rip. I used that to trace on my new fabric (and some fabric for the backing for strength). I marked where the folds were supposed to be, as well as the straps.

Then out came the sewing machine. First I basted the cute fabric to the backing. Then, I followed my marks to fold the fabric so it would bend and form a seat. I sewed those seams. After that, I needed a place for the metal frame to slip into the fabric, so I copied each from it's original and sewed. Once all my folds and creases were folded and sewn, I used the bias tape to finish the edges. Then I added the straps.

I happen to think they turned out terrific! So cute, and now they MATCH! Here's the finished product (of the really ugly stroller, anyway):

I'm still planning on spray painting the ugly greenish stroller frame white. Seriously. That previous fabric...gag me.