I decided to make a shopping cart handle cover shortly after Covid-19 news broke. I’ve always wiped the cart handle off with one of the disinfecting wipes the stores had, but I wanted something more. I had been thinking about making one before all of this happened, because we have a toddler who sits in the shopping cart. She doesn’t get to go shopping right now, and I’m not out there much, but when I do go it’s nice to have this.
You can make your own shopping cart handle cover too. It’s pretty simple and you only need a few things.
Supplies needed:
A sewing machine
Thread
Scissors
Velcro
Fabric
How to make a shopping cart handle cover:
Start by cutting your fabric into 2 rectangles that are each 6”x 30” if you want it to cover the whole handle. That’s the size of the two I made. If you only want it to cover the plastic part of the handle you can make the rectangles 15” or 20” long.
Next place one rectangle on top of the other so that the right sides (the side with your pattern) are facing each other. You should be looking at the wrong side (the back) of your fabric now.
Sew around the boarder of the whole rectangle using a 3/8th seam allowance, leaving a 3” opening on the bottom. You’ll need this opening to turn your fabric right side in after. Now clip the corners off to reduce bulk and then use the opening you left to turn your fabric right side out.
Make sure the corners are fully extended. Use a creasing tool if you have one, or something long and skinny that can push the fabric in the corners out. Now run a quick iron over the whole cover to make it nice and flat.
Next you’ll want to head back over to your sewing machine and run a topstitch 1/8” from the edge around the entire rectangle to finalize it. This will also close up the gap you left at the bottom.
After that, all that’s left is to add the velcro. You can use a long strip or circle pieces. I made one with each to see if one worked any better than the other. They were pretty much the same. In choosing which to use, remember if you use circles, they’ll need to be lined up properly.
I chose to put a 15” strip of velcro on the first one, right in the middle. You can make yours longer or shorter. The second one I used 4 circles spaced evenly.
Once you have chosen your velcro, pin it in place just under your topstitch and sew all the way around the velcro.
Now lay your fabric out straight with your velcro at the botton. Flip it up and over so that your velcro is at the top facing down. Now place the other half of your velcro on the bottom of the blank side of the fabric that is facing you. Pin that in place. Fold the two sides together to make sure the velcro is lined up. See the picture below. Then sew that velcro on.
That's it. You now have a shopping cart handle cover. I keep mine in a ziplock bag in my purse. I still wipe the cart handle of with a sanitizing wipe before I put this on it. When you're done shopping just put it back in your purse. When you get home wash it in warm water and then dry it in the dryer.
Once you've made your shopping cart handle cover post a picture in the comments below. I'd love to see your pattern. Follow Crafts & Coffee Cafe on Facebook for more fun crafting inspiration and join the mailing list below to get notified of future crafts.
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