Make a newborn cocoon photography prop

When I was sorting through my props and supplies in preparation for the last newborn session I had and looking through the Pinterest mood boards my client and I had set up, I felt I wanted a few new props. It’s always nice to add new things every session and since it had been so long since my last newborn, I felt it would be especially nice to have items especially for the gorgeous little man I was to photograph.

I was seriously short on time though. As is usual in this household, there are always 300 projects on the go at any given time and so anything I added would have to be made by myself. I really wanted a newborn fringe blanket and a cocoon nest, but I had no time to await delivery for anything I found online. I did some googling for easy patterns that wouldn’t take too long to finish and found a few ideas. There are heaps of ideas on how to make the fringe blanket quickly. I’ll share my method with you a bit later…

A few years ago, I used a loom to create a newborn sock LOL It didn’t work out (or so I thought???) and I ended up with a…yep, you guessed it – a newborn cocoon! I was about to have a newborn session for a baby girl, so made a pink one. Of course, soon after I had a session for a baby boy and could NOT replicate the error I’d made and ended up with a sock (which is what I was aiming for the first time round!) How funny that in 2010 newborn socks were in and cocoons not so much? Quite the reverse in 2015 I feel.

Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
Newborn girlie cocoon nest. Looks at those tootsies!!

Fast forward to now and I found this pattern online. Awesome, eh? So it began…I hauled out my crochet hooks and found suitable chunky wool and set about creating this nest and thought I’d share with you how to make a newborn cocoon photography prop.

Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
Divine little human – perfectly modelling my newborn cocoon nest!

I didn’t stick to the recommended wool/hook sizes and used what I had. I also made mine bigger because this little guy was over 10lbs in size! Here are my supplies:

Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
I used less than 3 50g balls of wool and made the nest even bigger than was advised in the pattern to accommodate a 10lbs+ baby.
Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
$2 each at BigW! Bargain!!
Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
I love when I just *happen* to have the stuff I need lying around =D The 9mm hook wasn’t quite the right size, but would have to suffice.
Make a newborn cocoon photography prop | Gillian Foley Photography
Started to look like a floppy Chinese hat the bigger it got! The boys kept wanting to pop it onto their heads!

Do you have any other quick and easy patterns/ideas/craft for newborn props? Share in the comments below!

Happy crocheting! ~ Gill


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