Make Your Own Baby Lounger

Reblogged from: Bower Power Blog

It’s like a big leather La-z-boy for your baby.

Except it’s not leather and not a chair.

Ok.  So it’s like a squishy contoured pillow for your baby to lay in. kinda like a pool lounger…that isn’t waterproof.  it would sink.

This is going nowhere fast.

It’s a pillow.  for a baby.  that’s all.

SO…. when I saw that Boppy sells newborn loungers I was totally on board. Except I grow giant babies. They come out toddler-size. So the only thing that worried me about their version was that it looked really small to me. Also…they are forty dollars. That’s right.  Forty. I don’t like spending forty dollars on something that I’m not 100% sure I will even use.

That’s when I had my little light bulb moment... this is a pillow… a weird shaped pillow with a little tufts. 

I could totally make my own.

And that’s exactly what I did.

My materials here are simple…

• two poly-fill pillows (mine were from Walmart for $8 for two)
• about a yard of your favorite fabric

My fabric was roughly 54″ x 24″ and I folded it in half so each side was about 27″ x 24″.

The first thing to do is wash and dry your fabric.

Then pin the wrong sides together.  I pinned each corner to make them rounded (I just used a large bowl to get my curve and keep it consistent).


I left about six inches on one end unpinned…this is the hole in which you are gonna need to turn the whole thing right side out and stuff the poly fill through.

Ten minutes later, a little sweet-talking to my sewing machine and I had an inside-out-pillow-cover with a hole.

I turned the entire thing right side out and ripped open my other Walmart pillows and stuffed like flat-chested Dallas cheerleader.  Oh right…those don’t exist.

Then I just sewed my hole shut.  This isn’t the cleanest way to do it (a hidden stitch would have been prettier) but since my fabric is nubby anyway, I don’t care.

Then I used a needle and thread to create my little pinches.  These will help your pillow stuffing to stay put and to allow for your baby to sit in a more contoured seat.

Since you are gonna pull really hard on this thread, you may want to use upholstery thread or double thread your needle for extra strength.  I decided I wanted the little ‘tufts’ to sit in the middle of the pillow (vs the inspirational pillow has the seat off center).  Then it’s just a matter of choosing your pinched spots and pulling that thread as tight as possible.

As you might imaging, my baby loves his lounger.  I like the fact that it’s machine washable (just in case a burp or blowout occurs) and it ended up being the perfect size for my almost-ten-pounder. 

The best part about this project is that you can make it any size you want and with whatever fabric you love.  I think it might be my go-to craft for friend’s who might be expecting…you know, until they come out with a leather newborn La-z-boy.