Doll Stroller Makeover

A few months ago our wonderful neighbors brought this little double stroller over for my girls to have. My oldest girl is at the age where she loves to push things around, so this has really been a huge hit with her.  I would have left the stroller as is, but after seeing this tutorial I decided that I had to try it out for myself.

Disclaimer:  My mom was a huge help in completing this makeover.  She had originally come to help me crank out a ton of projects that I've been working on for my girls for Christmas.  However, I ended up having the stomach flu for most of her visit, so she actually ended up doing a good portion of the projects while I sat and watched.  Thanks for you help mom!  I really couldn't have done it without you.

With that being said, here are the final results:

Aahh....that's better.  I love the fabric we went with and how it pops.  I ended up making a few simple changes to the original design which really helped with the overall durability.  Here is what we did.

1. Cut off the original fabric paying close attention to how it was originally attached.
2. Took lots of pictures so we would know how to put every piece together.

3. Then, we unpicked the original seats, back, and bottom strap (these pieces will become your pattern)
4. We then laid out the pieces of old fabric onto the new fabric and cut out our pieces of fabric.  (We reinforced our new fabric with some muslin that I had lying around.  That helped make the new stroller more sturdy)

 5.  Once everything was cut out we started sewing it all together.  My mom took care of the two back pieces and I put the two seats together.  Once we had the main items done my mom finished it all off by putting everything together, including the binding.

We opted to change the original buckle that the stroller had for some velcro straps.  That way my girls (who are still really young) can actually fasten them without needing me to do it for them.

We also opted to anchor the new piece with bows instead of loops.  This give me the option of being able take it off and wash it.  Besides, the bows were too cute to pass up.

I can't wait to see their faces Christmas morning.  I've hidden the stroller for the next few weeks, so hopefully the whole "out of sight, out of mind" thing really works.  I'm also in the process (with more help from my wonderful mother) of making over some dolls to go along with the stroller.  I can't wait to share the results of that little project with you, so stayed tuned.