Burp Cloths 3 Ways!

I'm sharing with you today the first of many baby related projects to come. I started out with a tutorial from another blog, homemade by jill , and then evolved that design into 2 different adaptations of my own. Even if you aren't planning on having a newborn around anytime soon, these burp cloths make a great baby shower gift!

The first set I made was for a friend who just that day had given birth to her second child, a beautiful baby girl named Madison. I brought a set of 4 to the hospital when I went to see the baby, along with a summer dress and matching bow I had also made. Here's a picture of the set I made her and the dress as well.

Those burp clothes were made using this tutorial, and they were really easy to make. I finished 6 of them in about one hour (minus washing time, of course)

Here's the same style in a different fabric- these one's I'm keeping for myself!

Next I moved on to another play on the same design. I wanted to use bias tape to wrap the edges, and although I've never worked with it before I was happy with the results! I used this blog post from Angry Chicken to help me figure out how best to work with bias. 

Instead of doing a peanut shape I opted for a simple rectangle with the same general dimensions. I sewed wrong sides together 1/4" from the edge, with a nice layer of quilt batting sandwiched in between. Then I trimmed the edges with the bias tape and sewed 2 seams down the length of the cloth, making 3 sections so the batting doesn't budge in the wash. 

Here's how those turned out. (p.s. don't you love the fabric Kinsey chose?)

Lastly I wanted something thinner and that I could keep in the diaper bag at all times without taking up a lot of room. I decided to make the original peanut shape, but without any batting inside and without the frayed edges. To do this I just placed the 2 sides right side together, sewed 1/4 from the edge, leaving a 2" space un-stitched. Then I turned them right side out, pressed, and top-stitched to finish them off. Voila!

Total cost for 16 burp cloths (4 of which were a gift) was less than $15! I got all the snuggle flannel at Joann's for $1.99/yd and each set of 4 only uses 1 yard total. 

I think it's safe to say I have more than enough burp cloths for the new baby, especially since I kept everything from when Kinsey was little, too.

I'll close with a sneak peek at my next sewing project, hopefully to be completed next week. What do you think I'm making for baby now? 

Update

I've been lacking in the blog department lately. 

Not that anyone seems to mind.

But I'll catch up a bit by posting about our little family and how it's currently growing.

Kinsey is almost 2 1/2 years old! She's turned into a VERY outgoing little lady, she says 'HI' to almost everyone she sees, especially kids. If another kid doesn't respond to her first attempt to be friendly she will literally follow them around saying "hi, hi, hello, hi" until they respond. Silly girl. She's definitely got her daddy's need to be social. She's talking up a storm, even if some of it is in her own secret language, counting to 5, knows her colors and shapes, and is quite the budding dancer and artist. That part comes from me :o)
She's almost 30 lbs and right at 3 ft tall, and we're sorta, kinda working on that whole potty training adventure. We have our good days, our great days, and the inevitable bad days, too.

Roy is working long hours with his company, in this economy we can't complain about an abundance of work and plenty to keep him busy. He works really hard for me to be able to stay home with Kinsey, and I love and appreciate that so much.

As for me, I'm being crafty as usual. My current endeavors have been all about baby....which prompts me to explain that I'm currently 5 months pregnant with our 2nd daughter! Things have been going smoothly and hopefully the heat of the summer won't get to me in my final months too much, baby is due August 3. I'm itching to try and sell our current house, so the girls won't have to share a room and we can have more space for our growing family overall. That may or may not become a reality, for now it's just a goal/dream/idea.

Overall we are happy and healthy and looking forward to warmer weather and the growth of our family from 3 to 4!

Oh, and I hope to get better at this blogging continuity thing ;o)

Roy and Kinsey enjoying spring by flying a kite

Her first try at flying it by herself

She's very proud and excited!