Quick, Easy, and Useful Baby Gifts to Make

Don't you just love getting an invitation to a shower? Or giving a shower for someone special? I do! It means the start of a brand new chapter in their lives as something very exciting is about to happen. I went to a shower recently for a Mom to be whose having a girl, and decided to make some matching burp cloths and bibs along with my other gifts. Then I received an invitation to a shower for a Mom to be who's having a boy. Since I'm making these for him, I thought I'd share with you how to make them. They're quick, easy, and it's so fun picking out fabrics for them. If you're a  beginner sewer, you will have no problem making these.

All you need is:

cloth diapers (prewash and dry them for shrinkage)

fabric for the bibs and the strip of fabric down the burp cloth

rick rack or gross grain ribbon if you choose to add them

iron on fleece

sew in Velcro

normal sewing supplies like scissors, pins, and your sewing machine

 

I purchased a pack of diapers at Target that looked like the old fashioned thick kind. When I got home and put them in the wash, I realized the company folded them in such a way that they looked like those I'm talking about, but aren't. They are very thin and huge. I realized if I fold them in half, they will be thicker and be about the size they should be, then proceeded from there. I had to work to try to get the ends to match and while they weren't perfect they came close. I made sure to overlap the middle a bit then ironed it.

Then I measured from top to bottom, added an inch for seam allowance, then measured across for how wide I want the fabric strip, then added an inch to that.

I cut my fabric to the measurements, 25 1/2 by 8 1/2. I turned under all sides 1/2 inch and ironed them.

I pinned the fabric to the diaper, working to try to get it even on all sides. Then I pinned some blue gross grain ribbon to the ends which adds a nice pop of color and helps hide the fact that the ends of the diaper don't perfectly line up going across.

Then using a zig zag stitch I sewed around the four sides of the fabric, and across the ribbon.

That's it! The fabric hides the ends inside, and baby has cute things to look at when he's being burped.
Now for the bib. I got the free bib pattern from Sew  Fishsticks. I enjoy her blog and she has several free patterns. The bib pattern comes in infant, toddler, and big kid size. So I printed an infant and toddler size as I'm doing one of each. You can find the pattern here. http://www.fishsticksdesigns.com/blog/the-bibs-in-all-sizes-tutorial/

I laid the main fabric down face up, my backing fabric face down, then the bib pattern right side up since I want the bib to end up coming around the right side to fasten. I pinned them together and cut them out.

Then I used the pattern to cut out my iron on fleece and ironed it onto the back of the front bib piece.

Then I placed the bib pieces facing right sides together, pinned them, and sewed them together using a 3/8 inch seam allowance. I left a hole about 4 inches wide at the bottom middle of the bib for turning.

I clipped the seams around all the curves so they will open up and "smile."

I turned it right side out through the opening I left in the bottom. I took the rounded end of a crochet hook, and gently pushed out all the seams and pushed the rounded areas all the way out.

I folded the raw edges in the hole to the inside and pressed them together, then pressed the whole bib.

Then I sewed just a little inside the edge of the bib all the way around.

I cut my two pieces of Velcro, placed the first down on the bib and pinned it, then placed the second on the top piece, pinned it, put them together and made sure it was aligned.

I sewed just to the inside of the Velcro rectangles. Done!

 I had so much fun making that set I did another but did the toddler size bib. The fun monster fabric I used is so cute. Since I had to be careful and make sure I didn't end up chopping off too much of the monsters, I placed the pattern on the main fabric, kept lifting up the pattern to see what was under it, then when I had it right where I wanted it, I pinned it, cut it out, then cut my backing fabric and fleece seperately as well. A few of the monsters still got cut off partially, but the overall front of the bib still has a lot of fun things to look at on it.

I then did a matching burp cloth the same way I did the other one, but I used black rick rack I had on hand and after pinning the ends of the fabric to the folded diaper, I pinned the rick rack with half under the side edge of the fabric and tucked the ends inside the ends of the diaper. I used a straight stitch and sewed around the fabric, close to the edge.

I need a card to go with my handmade gifts and some gifts I'm getting from her registry, so I took some small scraps, cut them into rectangles, and sewed them onto a card. I have a needle I keep in a special place that's just for paper projects since I can't use it for sewing my normal projects. I then did a small rubberstamp and hand wrote Congratulations! This young lady has grown up wearing and using handmade things and she appreciates anything, especially something Handmade with Love!

I hope next time you need a baby gift you'll consider trying these projects!

                                                                                               

                                                                                    Gina