I decided on a mostly rectagular sleeping bag. Inner (2 yrds fleece), outer (2 yrds rip stop) and batting (single bed size medium thickness polyester blanket batting)cost $32, I already had toggles and the zipper and all sewing supplies. It took me 10 hours to complete. It was a design-as-you-go, trial and error method with lots of pinning, unpinning, repinning! I broke 2 sewing machine needles and had to hand sew three spots that were too hard to get to with a machine. I certainly did not do this the most efficient method with respect to sewing. I made the inner bag first, then the outer, put in zipper, and sewed up footbox. The top of the bag has four layers of batting, two attached to the shell and two attached to the liner. I added two pannels on the bottom to hold a sleeping pad. I did not make the hood very heavy since kids usually do not use these. I made a small matching pillow of the small bits of extra material. I am washing it now and hope it survives! I may have to attach the batting with quilting knots, but would rather try to see if it washes OK without.


The total length is 50 inches, the length without the hood is 42 inches. I made the bag fairly wide because kids do not like to be constrained.


The bag, upper and lower zipper baffels and draft collar


better look at the draft collar - velcro top closure on inside so kids can reach it


close-up of closure


draw strings with toggles - individual for top and bottom so there are no loops that could present a strangling hazard


pannels on bottom to hold sleeping pad

My grandson has his 2nd birthday Saturday so I will see if he actually wants to get inside the bag. That is the real test.

I am a little concerned with the quilt batting, but did not want to spend much on this since it is basically an experiment.

I added some strapping to extend on each side of the zipper and am real pleased with how well the zipper works - no catching potential at all! This should be fairly kid-friendly. IT weighs 2 pounds - heavier than I would like but I think the fleece adds more weight. I found some kids sleeping bags on the market that had cotton flannel linings - not great for damp coastal conditions. The fleece I used was ordinary polyester fleece on sale at Hancock's Fabrics. It generates a bit more "static" than I would prefer.