March 28, 2011

HOW TO - MAKE A BURP CLOTH

Do you remember seeing these cute burp cloths on this blog post? Today's we're sharing a tutorial on how to make them yourself. Burp cloths make a perfect baby gift or are just to make for yourself. They are made out of cloth diapers so they will soak everything up!


Supplies:

  • cloth diapers (make sure and get the pre-fold kind. You can get 3 ply or 4 ply…just depends on how thick you want them)
  • fabric pieces (I use fat quarters. I used cotton, but you could use flannel if you like too.)
  • scissors
  • sewing machine
  • pins



Optional Supplies

  • ribbon
  • hem gauge



Step 1: Wash all your fabrics, ribbon (if you are using it) and diapers in hot water and dry them. Your fabric will fray on the edges, but that is okay, we won’t notice this in the finished burp cloth. You want to pre-shrink everything because each fabric shrinks a little differently. So it’s good to shrink them all first before sewing them together.

Step 2: After everything is dry, iron them to make them easier to work with.


Step 3: You are going to cut your fabric. For the length, you are going to measure the length of your diaper and add 1 inch. (Each diaper is a little different, so it’s best to measure what you have.) Then the width will be 6”. My diaper was  17” long, so I cut my rectangle to 18” x 6”. This allows for a ½” hem on each side.

Step 4: Lay the fabric strip on your ironing board and using a hem gauge (if you have one), press a ½” hem down each side. If you do not have a hem gauge, you can just eyeball it.


Step 5: Lay the fabric strip down centered in the middle of the diaper with pressed hems facing down. Pin the fabric into place.


Step 6: Now you are ready to sew. Sew through all layers….you want to make your seam as close the edge of the fabric as you can.


If you want to add ribbon, you can now sew strips of ribbon to each side of the fabric.


That’s it…you have now finished your first burp cloth. Now sew a couple more, stack them together and admire them!

Happy Sewing!
Petite Lemon

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are some of the cutest burp cloths I've seen!

feiane (fe-yan) said...

wow those are so lovely!..... thanks for posting...