Toddler Swing

Tot got a swing for her birthday. It is a big girl swing, and she had only been in one two other times, both with me and SS hovering around her giving dire warnings to hang on tight! After the swing was put together, she had fun but needed constant hover monitoring in order to go and be safe. (She promptly fell out her first solo flight.) So, we needed a transition swing, but these cost than the original swingset was, and none were exactly what I was envisioning. I wanted one she could climb in and out on her own, but just giving her the safety of the toddler swings.
Unfortunately I couldn't find anything that seemed to be what we needed.

So it was off to Joanne's Fabrics and I got some denim material and white webbing in order to create one!
(I bought denim for the strength and durability, and webbing to edge it off, also I bought them in the maroon and cream colors of her swingset, awesome! I also bought extra strength upholstry thread, although I don't think this was strictly required, I wanted to be sure it was durable.)

I had already had a T shaped pattern in mind, and I simply measured and pinned to know exactly where to sew. I needed two pockets on the sides for the chain to go through, and one on the bottom for the seat, and then simply sew it all together and finish off the edges.

Here it is all finished. Not quite as nicely as I'd envisioned, because the thickness of the materials were a little bit too much for my machine, so I had some fudging around the edges. I had trimmed the seams, but there were still areas I needed to sew through six or seven layers, and it was just a little too much for my non industrial machine.

And here it is installed on the swing. Lovely! I put extra webbing on the inside front where it will be rubbing on the swing. I did think about using snaps to attach it to the swing, but decided I wanted seams to increase the strength and trust. However, if you want to make one for the park swings, you could use snaps in order to get it on and off and take it with you.

As you can see, it works wonderfully! It gives the support in the back so there is no tumbling out while she learns out to get in and out and pump back and forth.

However, it is completely open in the front so she is not restricted and able to learn how to do things all by herself (including getting in and out!) with not so near hovering supervision required.

 So it was a project that took about two hours to cut assemble and sew, a little messier than I would've liked, but overall, it does the job, matches the swing and hopefully will be a big helper in this awkward transition period. Then when she is done, I can simply slip it off the swing and fold it up for next time.

Also, she likes using it as a hammock.