Flannel Burp Cloths

*Originally published in January 2013*

I know I have been sorely neglecting this blog, but it's mostly because I haven't been doing anything too crafty lately.  I've recently started to get back into doing little projects because we're expecting a baby boy in April, so I had to get my behind into gear and make a few baby items!  Today I made burp cloths.  I went about it very simply:

1. Buy flannel.  I did 1/2 yard of each fabric (so 1/2 yard for your main fabric, plus 1/2 a yard in a coordinating one for the back.)  This will make you 3-4 burp cloths.  It sort of depended on how the people at the store cut the pieces.  If they cut them evenly, you really should be able to get four out of each 1/2 yard+1/2 yard (if that makes sense!)

2. Cut the flannel out in the shape you want the burp cloth.  I did sort of an hourglass pattern because I like to have an indent for the cloth to sit on my shoulder.  You could also just do squares if that's easier.

3. Iron out any deep creases or folds in the fabric, then put them back-to-back, pin them, and stitch in a zig zag around the burp cloth.  I went around twice so they'd be nice and strong.  

4. Take a pair of pinking shears and cut around the edges.  I have no doubt these will still fray pretty bad around the edges once they are washed, but I'm okay with that, since it saved me tons of time to not have to worry about stitching them front-to-front, then inside-outing them and top stitching.  I'm not really going for gorgeous here--just functional.  

Voila!  You have tons of burp cloths.  A total of 4 yards of fabric gave me 13 burp cloths when all was said and done, so not too shabby if you ask me--just make sure you buy your flannel when it's half off!!

If you want a more "finished" look, you can also try this tutorial from when I made burp cloths for my daughter.  It requires buying cloth diapers for backing, which can cost a bit more, but they are definitely nice and absorbent and washed up really well over and over again.  I plan to use them for this baby too--mostly at home though, since they are more girly and are a little worn out at this point.

Pillowcase Dress & Baby Headbands

My friend Eliza and I have been working on pillowcase dresses for our baby girls this past week. I finally finished mine tonight after buying the ribbon I needed for the straps. I think it turned out super cute! I also made this headband to match it. I made it a little big because it needs to fit her noggin at the same time as the dress--which I'm hoping will be this summer. I really liked how it turned out. I've discovered making baby clothes is a labor of love. I think I will continue to purchase 99% of her wardrobe instead of making stuff, but on occasion it can be a fun little challenge.

A much less time-consuming craft we've also been dabbling in lately is headbands (as previewed above).

I had planned before Chloe was born to put headbands on her a lot, but as it turns out, I usually only put them on long enough to take a few photos or for church because they tend to leave marks on her head that make me feel guilty. My new-found solution is to buy adult elastic headbands because then they sit on her head way looser and don't leave marks.

I've been dolling them up by glue-gunning flowers and bows onto them. I'm excited to have people (hopefully) stop mistaking my poor bald child for a boy (granted, this only happens when she's in her car seat and her bright girlie clothes are covered with her blanket...but it's still annoying.)(Purple bow and purple elastic from Hobby Lobby.)
Navy felt bow made by Eliza, white elastic headband from Hobby Lobby
(Black checkered bow from Hobby Lobby, Black elastic from Walgreens.)
(Hot pink flowers from Joann's, pink headband from Hobby Lobby)
(Red polka dot bow and black elastic headband from Hobby Lobby)

Wes calls this her "Nephite Headband." I think it just looks too far forward because it's wide and she has no hair in front. :)This last one is to match her Easter dress which is made out of this fabric:Cute, right?
(Gray flowers from Target, neon yellow elastic headband from Walgreens.)

Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

I looked all around town for a plain-colored skirt (either red, white, black, or denim) that would work with these striped Christmas tights I bought for Chloe. (I also bought her a pair of red striped tights). I couldn't find what I was looking for (at least not at a price I was willing to pay)--seriously, $30.00 for a clothing item my baby will fit for approximately a month?
No thank you.

So the alternative was to make her a skirt. I looked at the fabric remnants at Hobby Lobby and found this great piece of red fabric for $2.00. I was trying to decide if I should just do a traditional skirt with a hem and some elastic at the top, or if I wanted to attempt the ruffles I'd been picturing in my head. I decided to go for the ruffles, and I'm so glad I did. From start to finish this skirt took me about 4 hours. Not too bad.

Wanna make one for the cute little girl in your life (or for you?) Read on, my friend.

1. Iron your fabric. I only needed 3/4 yard for this project, but Chloe is only 2 months old, so she's still pretty little. If you are making this for an adult or for an older child you will need to adjust the fabric accordingly.

2. Cut five strips of fabric. 40 inches long, 3 inches wide.

Now watch this video so the rest of the instructions will make more sense:


3. Hem the fabric strip on one end. (As shown in the tutorial video.)

4. Create the ruffle edge on each strip of fabric. (As shown in the tutorial video.)

5. Pin each strip onto a flat piece of fabric.

6. Sew each strip on, doing your best to keep them evenly spaced (you can measure if it makes you feel better, but once again, I sort of just eyeballed.) I did a straight stitch and then a zig-zag. It should look something like this when they are all sewed on:

7. Fold over an edge of the fabric so it covers the raw edge of the top ruffle. (As shown in the tutorial video.)

8. Create a casing for the elastic waistband and thread the elastic through (we used a wire hanger--thanks husband, for the idea). I didn't video this part or take photos, so if you don't know how to create a little casing, you might have to google it. Sorry.

9. Turn your skirt inside-out, line up the ruffles, and one-by-one stitch them together. Do your best to line the ruffles up so that they look continuous. It should look something like this from the inside when you are done:

and like this on the outside.

Then put it on your cute little model:

Hope this makes sense. Email me with questions. :)

Reindeer Cookies and Ninjabread Men

I attempted the reindeer cookies I talked about in THIS post.

I didn't think about doing them until I was already home from the grocery store, so I used what I had on hand (meaning the pretzels aren't chocolate covered and the candies are a little different than the ones they use in the original recipe.) I think they still turned out pretty cute. I also used gingerbread dough instead of peanut butter like the original poster used.

This is the recipe I used:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ground Ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to 5 days.

I found the recipe HERE.

I also made "Ninjabread Men." My husband bought me cookie cutters for my birthday last month. They turned out pretty cool, right? :)

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving weekend and that you enjoy this coming Christmas season.

For some more holiday inspiration, check out these other holiday posts on Craft Rookie:
"Can't Get Enough..."

"It's That Time of Year"
"Christmas in August"

"Sugar High"

"Personalized Christmas Gift Tags"

"It's December WHAT-teenth?!?"

"Christmas...or Strawberry Shortcake?"

"Gumball Machines"

"If You Google Stockings, Make Sure You Specify 'Christmas Stockings'"

"Decorate for Christmas With..."

"Framed Scrapbook Page"

"It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like..."

Carseat Cover Tutorial

I made this carseat cover for Baby Girl's new carseat. I didn't use a tutorial to make it, but I've read a lot of different ones in the past. Make It and Love It is where I'm pretty sure I saw it for the first time.

You can use Make It and Love It's tutorial, or if you prefer my instructions, since I did mine a little differently, here goes. (Or use a combination of the two since we have totally different styles of explaining things, so you might get something out of hers you can't get from mine, or vice-versa):

1. Buy 1 1/4 yards of each of the two fabrics you want to use. That was the amount that worked for my Chicco Keyfit 30. If you have a different style of carseat, you may just want to take a measuring tape and get a feel for how much fabric you think you'll need. I really don't think you'd need much more than that though, with any carseat.2. You will also need either sew-on velcro for the handles (that's what I did) or else you can buy thick grosgrain ribbon (like on the Make It and Love It tutorial.)

3. Cut your fabric pieces to the length you want it exactly. I trimmed off an edge of both fabrics so I'd have some leftover for the handles. (I'm talking like maybe three or so inches down one side of each of them.) Your fabric should basically be cut into a square (all stitched up mine measured approximately 40x40 inches), or if you want you can make it a tad more oblong (since carseats are kind of oblong.)

4. Lay the fabric pieces back-to-back and pin them. I used flannel since my baby is going to be here in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin for her early months of life. If it's summertime or you live somewhere warm you can do a lighter fabric. Make It and Love It did fleece, but I thought it just looked too suffocating, so just make your own decision on what will work best for you.

5. After the fabric is all pinned up, just sew around the edges. I'm kind of zig-zag happy because I really want my projects to stay together nicely, so I did a zig-zag stitch first, then a straight stitch. Remember to leave enough of the edge unstitched that you can flip the fabric inside out.

6. Once you've flipped it inside out, sew in a straight line around the entire thing (this includes stitching up the hole you left to inside-out it.) I actually did two lines around the edge, just to give it a more finished look (and just in case something didn't hold on the first line, particularly since that's your only chance to stitch up the hole you left on one edge.)7. Once your cover is all stitched up, you are almost done. But now comes kind of the tedious part. You need to make the handles. It's pretty simple, it just takes some time. You just need to cut out strips of the fabric to the length and thickness you want them to be. Then put them back-to-back, pin them, and stitch them, just like you did the carseat cover.

8. Then sew the velcro on. (You'll sew one side of the velcro to the inside of the handle, and one side of the velcro to the outside of the handle. Don't worry...it'll make sense once you go to pin it on.) I went zig-zag crazy here because I wanted the velcro to be nice and tight. I tried to keep it looking as tidy as possible, while still zig-zagging the crap out of it. I think it looks fine (and that velcro isn't going anywhere!)9. Once your handles are all made (you need two) you need to figure out where you want your handles on your cover. This took some pinning and re-pinning for me. I wanted more of the cover hanging in the front of the carseat than over the back (where there is already a visor for protection), so I couldn't just pin the handles smack-dab in the middle. This isn't to say you couldn't...I just didn't want them there. So once I figured out where I wanted them, I pinned them onto the cover and then gave it a try on my carseat. It took a couple of tries to get them sitting just where I wanted them to hook on the handle, but eventually I felt good about where they were at and sewed them on. (As you'll notice in the picture, I sewed them opposite directions from each other...oops!)***Keep in mind here that you don't want the cover attached so tightly to the handle of your carseat that you can't get your hand around the handle. Let it sag just a little in between the cover handles so you have a spot for your hand.***10. Same thing as with sewing on the velcro: zig zag it onto the cover like crazy. Especially if you do flannel or fleece, the cover is quite bulky and heavy in comparison to your skinny little fabric handles (or ribbon if you choose to go that route) so make sure you stitch them on really well to your cover. At first I just did one thick line (back and forth, back and forth) to sew them on, but it was making the cover still hang with a lot of weight pulling on that one stitch, so I ended up stitching the handles onto the cover in multiple places to give it more support and keep the cover from ripping away from the handles. This is what it looks like from the inside of the cover (where no one will see, by the way, so don't worry about beauty--focus on securing it tightly and sewing it on in spots to help it not rip with the weight of the cover.)And there you have it. Hook it onto your carseat, and you have a cozy little cave all ready for your little one! When you head into a grocery store or wherever, 0r when you get the car nice and warm, just flip the cover up over the handle of the carseat so they don't get too hot and so they have lots of air!

PS: I've heard you are actually supposed to not drive with the handle up, so just make sure you are following the safety regulations suggested (this may mean taking the cover off when you drive or at least folding the handle down.)Like I said before, there are a million ways to go about this. This is just how I went about it, and it's not right or wrong. The way you make your cover will vary based on the weight of your fabric, how strong your velcro is, what kind of thread you are using, and whether or not you make handles like me or use grosgrain ribbon like on Make It and Love It. Just don't stress too much over it. Your baby won't care what it looks like, and the whole point is just to keep them warm, not to win a sewing award. :)

Good luck, and as always, you are free to email me with your questions.

Another PS: I've read that some people just buy a receiving blanket or a flannel or fleece blanket of some kind and sew some handles (or ribbon handles) onto it. This would work just fine, since essentially the cover is just a flannel blanket. If you aren't really comfortable with the whole process of stitching the blanket, then that really is a great alternative. :) Happy Sewing!