SSC - Step by Step Guide Part 1

This is a rough step by step guide to those who are curious as to how a soft structured carrier (SSC) is made.  Bear in mind though that this guide here is for constructing a toy SSC.  Many safety features have been omitted.  Sewing a real SSC however, requires lots of safety precautions.


Step 1 :  Preparing the Materials

You will need :
2 pieces body piece
2 pieces of shoulder strap
1 piece of waist band
4 buckles
5 pieces of webbing
polyfiber

Step 2 :  Sealing the Webbing

The end of the webbing needs to be sealed to prevent it from fraying.  It can be sealed via heat.  The easiest way is to burn it with a small fire.  However, this will result in uneven ends which make it difficult to weave the webbing through the buckle later.  Another way of applying heat is to touch the end of the webbing on the surface of a hot iron.  Be mindful not to burn it or else it will spoil your iron.



Step 3  :  Constructing the Shoulder Straps

1) With the right side of the fabric facing up, align a piece of webbing on the fabric with at least 3 cm of the webbing at the outside of the fabric.
2) Fold the fabric in half, while arranging the webbing to be at the centre.  The wrong side of the fabric should be facing up now.
3) Hold the end of the webbing in place with pins.
4)  Sew along the edges of the shoulder strap piece leaving the other end of the vertical strip opened.

5) Turn the shoulder strap inside out.  The right side of the fabric should now be facing out while the long side of the webbing at the outside as well.

6)  Feel the webbing inside the shoulder piece and sew an x box on the webbing.  This is to secure the webbing in place.  In order to construct a real SSC, sew the x box as least 3 times.

7) Open the unsewn part of the shoulder strap and fill it with polyfiber.
8) Repeat all the steps with the other shoulder strap.

Filling the shoulder strap with polyfiber

Step 4 : Constructing the Body Piece

Sewing the seat darts
1) With the wrong side of the fabric facing up, mark the spot 1/4 of the width of the body piece from the left.  Repeat with the right end.
2) Draw a 3cm vertical line from the spot.  Fold the fabric exactly at the vertical line. (The wrong side of the fabric should be facing up).
3)  Draw a diagonal line from the end of the marking towards 1cm away from the line you have drawn. 
4) Sew along the diagonal line.

Sewing along the diagonal line

5) Repeat at the other side.  You should now have two seat darts (left and right) at the same body piece.
6) Repeat with the other body piece.

SSC - Step to Step Guide Part 2

SSC - Step to Step Guide Part 3