Life with babies is full of perpetual mess. If you recall my recent tale of Little J, you know he barfs. A lot. My collection of burp cloths just weren’t cutting it. Sure, they’re handy for cleaning up the dribbles, bubbles and drool but they can’t handle his giant barfs. My clothes were still getting wet after he barfed on the cloth that was on my chest so I decided to make my own. They’re giant and thick and plush and quite frankly, they’re awesome. We’re a geeky household so I have made a couple of geeky ones for Little J including a Batman one and a robot one. This tutorial shows a beautiful girly burp cloth I made recently to add to a family member’s baby shower gift.
This is a fantastic project for beginners. It’s all about straight seams which is always a bonus!
What You’ll Need
- 1 piece of cotton fabric of your choice, cut 12″ x 16″
- 1 piece of white terry cloth, cut 12″ x 16″
- Thread & bobbin – you can either use white or a coordinating thread to your cotton fabric
- Sewing machine, scissors, pins, etc. Anything you like to use for sewing.
How-To
Warning: Cutting terrycloth is a nightmare strictly for the mess. I suggest cutting it somewhere that’s easy to clean or outside if you can. Then give it a good shake to get rid of much of the excess fluff. Once the project is complete, you will want to clean your machine as well. If you are not sure how to clean your machine, I will include a brief tutorial below; however, you really, really should learn how to clean your specific machine very well to ensure the machine has a long life.
Place your fabric & terrycloth with right sides facing in. Terry doesn’t usually have a right side, so just pick the side you like best to lay against the right side of the cotton fabric. Pin around all of your edges.
Sew a straight seam all around the cloth with the cotton facing down – if the terrycloth is against the teeth, it will have some trouble and it will pull too much fluff into your machine. Leave a 2″ opening which you will use to flip. Trim your corners as close to the stitching as possible without nicking it. Flip you burp cloth right-side out.
Take a moment to iron the cloth, ensuring you tuck in the edges of your opening. Iron on the cotton side, not the terrycloth side. Pin your opening shut.
Sew a straight seam all the way around the cloth to finish it off, ensuring that you sew your opening closed.
Basic Sewing Machine Cleaning Tutorial
Your sewing machine should have included a box with a variety of small tools. There should be a mini flathead screwdriver and a little brush.
Use the screwdriver to pop the plate off.
Next, remove the small cover by the bobbin case as well as the bobbin case itself.
Take your little brush and scoop out any fluff. Do NOT ever blow the dust out. This can cause it to go further into your machine and cause a lot of problems.
Replace bobbin case, little cover and the plate.
I highly recommend doing this after every project or at least the ones with material that sheds such as terrycloth, felt and minky.
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Andrea can always be found with a new craft in front of her, a form of technology on her right and a coffee on her left. This is how she survives suburbia with her two crazy toddlers in tow.
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