Saturday, August 17, 2013

Make Your Own Ergo Infant Insert

ergo heart to heart - MommaMerylsMonographsWe're expecting twins soon, so I decided to buy the Ergo Heart to Heart Insert. After searching for the best price and finding the performance series ones on clearance for $13, I thought I was golden. Then, the email came. "Your order has been cancelled. This item has been discontinued. Sorry."

I'm a cheapskate. Paying $50 to get two inserts for our Ergo carriers just seemed ridiculous. Plus, I wanted one that would compliment the Petunia Pickle Bottom prints.

We went to the fabric store, and there it was...cute cotton print for $2.50 a yard! We bought half a yard to experiment, and a couple hours later, we had this beautiful insert!






 ergo heart to heart - MommaMerylsMonographs 

For $1.25 in fabric + supplies we already had, this worked out great! (I did have to search for something to make the pillow, since I only bought half a yard. That's why the pattern says 3/4yrd of fabric.)

UPDATE: My little girl weighed 5lbs 9oz and was 19in long. My boy weighed in at 7lbs 1oz and was 21in long. Both babies fit great and seem really comfortable in the carrier.









Supplies:


- 3/4 yard fabric (we used cotton, but anything that's not too stretchy...and you probably want something washable)

- Thread to match fabric

- 19in x 19in piece of quilt batting (low or medium loft)

- Poly-fill (about a 1/4 of the small bag)














UPDATE: See the process in pictures! We made a second one out of monkey print.

7 comments:

  1. very cool! Do you know if this is the same dimensions as the real heart to heart? or did you make an educated guess?

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  2. I read somewhere that the old style insert was 20x20. I measured my own Ergo from the top to the bottom seat seam. Then I made an educated guess. I couldn't find one locally to unbox, but I'm pretty sure it's within an inch. My twins are due in October. I'll post pictures of the fit as soon as I can.

    I also took a series of photos as we made a second one (out of sock monkey fabric). Hoping to post those this week.

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  3. Thank you! I have been looking for a pattern like this! Can't wait to try it out.

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  5. This is fantastic! I have the ergo but no insert and my LO is 4 weeks.I just found out that my town's bus policy would require me to fold up my stroller because it's "oversized" but if I can make this for my ergo then I can take my little guy around in his carrier! Thank-you so much for posting this! I'm really big on saving money and this is definitely helping! Also once I make mine (if it turns out) I will post it on my blog to show it off and definitely credit your post!

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  6. Fantastic pattern, thanks so much, just made one in about an hour, and the directions made it so easy!!!!!

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  7. Hi Meryl! I want to thank you for this tutorial. I just finished making this insert. Granted, it took me a few hours to make because I'm a beginner at sewing. This is the most complicated thing I've sewn so far and following your step-by-step tutorial plus looking at your photos helped me successfully make an insert. FYI, the only things I've sewn prior to this insert are burp cloths, a pillow case, and hemming pants (easy 90 degree angled sewing and straight line sewing). I had all the materials already from other crafting projects, but purchased a yard of cotton dinosaur print fabric for $5 for my baby boy #2. I can't wait to test it out (I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant so I can't give it a test run, but I plan to strap the Ergo plus insert on my husband later today). I did run into issues of uneven edges, bunching of material when sewing through the middle to secure the batting, the batting and fabric unevenly sticking out on the bottom that required severe trimming, and having to increase width of the binding strip to 2.5 inches to give me more room for error. But once I folded the "taco" the flaws concealed themselves and it turned out great. So I would have to say your design and tutorial does allow people some wiggle room in case they encounter issues like mine. Hopefully you can see the image of my final product....thank you again!

    https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TYx-rZ6muLA/VmONfC8ZYeI/AAAAAAAAzBE/Ntp5I9ytcU4/w365-h487-no/IMG_6428.JPG

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