We can do it!!!!

Heading to Berlin today! Yeeeey! The best of living in London is being able to travel that often!

Our baby-in-the-belly is definitely a traveller! 

I might not find time to publish many posts on these 4 days in Berlin, I'll be too busy having fun! So, I will leave you guys with an amaaaaaaaazing DIY that my friend Pinja from Pinjacolada kindly shared with us.

DIY child swing

Here's a little summer challenge for you! I put together somekind of instructions for this DIY children's swing. The model of this swing is a DIY version of a finnish children’s swing from somewhere between 70's and 80’s. My mother made a swing like this to me when I was a kid and now she made one for my daughter as well. Here are instructions to make your own children’s swing. f you get into making one with this instruction or your own please send me a photo of the ready swing by the 3rd of August nd I'll put together a gallery and maybe also a little competition/lottery with a prize!

You need:
- Strong fabric for two main parts that are sewn double-layered 98 x 30 cm (2 pieces) and 106 x 30 cm (2 pieces) 
- 430 cm bias tape to close the sides- 1 sheet of plywood 4 mm thick 28 x 28 cm
- 2 x 250-400 cm minimum 5 mm thick nylon rope 

(Check the rope length depending on how high you want to hang the swing)
- 4 x 34 cm round profile wooden sticks, width about 2 cm

Please notice that the swing with these measures is for a child between about 1-2,5 age -depending on a child's weight. To make the swing stronger you can try to use thicker wood sticks and thicker rope (you can check the weight limit of the rope while buying) with well sealed knot closings. 

The measures are not very exact ones and you might want to check them while sewing your own swing to see that for example the side heights match with the width of the wooden sticks. All the measures are marked in centimeters.

1. Start by cutting the fabric: 2 x A. 98 x 30 cm and 2 x B. 106 x 30 cm. The swing is stronger if the fabric is sewn double-layered so cut 2 pieces of fabric for both parts. Cut also the feet holes for the B part. Sew the double sided parts of both pieces together by closing them with the bias tape all around the sides. Sew the bias strip also around the foot holes of the B part. 

2. Place the sewn A. and B. parts on top of each other as a cross (picture) so that the B. part (with the foot holes) is under the A part and inner sides up. Sew the parts together in the middle, but only on 3 sides (shown with red dashed line). Leave one side open for placing the plywood sheet on the seating area. 

3. Sew the alleys for the wooden sticks. Before sewing check the measures with by folding the fabric sides around the wooden sticks and see that the sticks on the B come on top of the A part sticks (see the photo).

4. Sand the sharp ends to make them smoother with sandpaper. Drill holes from about 1,5cm from both ends of each stick. You can check this measure when the sticks are in their places. Holes need to be wide enough that the rope can fit through. 

5. Add the plywood sheet on its place.

6. Add the rope pieces on their places. Put one rope through the swing’s right side holes in front and back. Close the rope to its place by making a strong knot where the rope comes out under the wooden sticks. Add the second rope to the left side of the swing through front and back holes and add the similar knots. Adjust the length of ropes on both sides to be exactly the same to get the swing balanced. You can seal the rope ends next to the knots by melting the ends with a hot iron for example.

7. Make loop knots for hanging in the middle of both ropes and the swing is ready!

That's sooooooo cool Pinja! Thanks so much! I don't know if I'll be able to finish mine till August but I'll try! Can't wait to give Mini his/her very own swing!!!

If you guys feel adventure enough to do one yourselves, please don't forget to go to her blog and send pictures for the competition :) 

See you guys next week :)