Baby Burp Cloths

The holidays are always crazy and I have been too busy creating and not posting.  I will attempt to post some of the fun things I have been working on. 

I have an embroidery/sewing machine.  I have enjoyed embroidering many different projects.  I have seen some really cute burp cloths made from cloth baby diapers.  I have been told the moms love these since they are very absorbent.  With twin grandsons on the way and one other grand baby on the way I thought this would be a good time to whip some of these out. 

I was also looking for a cute sewing project that my older granddaughters could sew and I figured this would be the perfect project.  We started one Saturday morning and they enjoyed it so much that they did not stop until late in the afternoon when I finally had to take them back home. 

I bought a pack of diapers from Wal-mart.  There were 10 diapers in a pack for about 13$.  I went to Etsy to look for and purchase some cute applique embroidery designs.  These patterns ranged in price from $1.50-$3.50 and the digital patterns downloaded immediately to my email.  It doesn't take very much fabric for the embroidery or the fabric border, I actually used scraps from other projects.  I like to use large ric rac so I had previously purchased some ric rac that matched the fabrics I was using.  Ribbon
is also a nice edge to trim it with.

To keep it soft I chose to use flannel for the borders but I did use some quilting fabrics for the embroidery designs. I first cut 2 strips of fabric for the borders.  These strips will be 3” wide and 1” longer than the width of the end of the diaper. I then sewed ric rac to one edge of each strip.  I folded this over and pressed it and then pressed the opposite side with ¼” seam.  I then centered the strip and began pinning it down and pinned the ends under to fit the width of the bib.  The diapers tend to be a little stretchy and uneven so this is where pinning is important so that the bottom edge matches up exactly and evens it out.  Once pinned, I then sewed about an 1/8” seam all the way around this strip to attach it to the diaper. 

My granddaughters that sewed are ages 12 and 9.  This was a good project because one could be sewing their burp cloth while the other was pinning.  It taught them how to sew a straight line and the importance of pinning and matching edges.  While they were sewing I would take what they had finished and then embroider the design on.  They were so excited to make these and can’t wait to give them to their new cousins. 

One thing I would recommend is to put the embroidery design on first so that there is less bulk in the hoop.  Just make sure to leave room for the border.