DIY: Car Seat Handle Cushion

Well, surprise! Yes, my husband and I are adding another little girl to our family of three :) and we were surprised yet excited.  So a few weeks ago we started cleaning out our guest room which will be the baby's new room to not only get rid of the clutter but to also organize everything that we saved from when Amaya was a baby.  We of course still have the big ticket items, crib, infant carrier, stroller, pack-n-play, etc.  When we purchased the travel system we knew we wanted to have more than one child so we got something that was gender neutral and that would hold up very well.  Here is the travel system we have...

While browsing around in the mall a few weeks ago, I noticed a woman with her daughter in her car seat with one of these gadgets around the car seat handle.

So I had to stop and ask her if she made it or if I could find it in a local store.  I remember the days of carrying that heavy carrier in the crook of my elbow and thought this little gadget would have been perfect!  She told me that she got it from Buy Buy Baby (BBB) and that it was a lifesaver.  So I looked online at BBB to see the cost and it ranged from $16.99 to close to $30.  Ummmmmmm, can we say not in my budget for that little thing????? Lol!  Now the $16.99 price wasn't bad, but it didn't have good reviews so it would be like wasting money if it didn't serve the purpose I needed it to.  So I headed to good ole' faithful Google and typed in "DIY car seat handle cushion" and of course many options came up.  I checked out the first few and just picked the one that provided the easiest instructions. 

I went to Hobby Lobby to price materials to see how the price would compare to just buying it outright and let's just say I saved more than $10 (buying the cheapest one) making it myself.  With the fabric, velcro, and padded foam I spent less than $6!  Now, I'm not great using the sewing machine but I figured I could handle this.  I won't type up all of the instructions here, because How Does She did a great job and I followed it step by step (day by day, a fresh start over, a different hand will play... where my 80's babies??? I digress lol).  So here are the items I purchased and my finished product!  

I'm really pleased with it being my first "real" sewing project.  This is not only great for yourself, but would be a perfect baby shower gift for any mom!