Baby Shower Favourites

Do you like to walk on the wild side and avoid baby shower registries?

Me too.  However, even if you have your heart set on buying your daughter/sister/friend/co-worker a Bumbo, you can always add a little homemade gift.  The following are my all-time favs.

(1)  Burp Cloths

Make a set of these (four is a good start!) for the Mama-to-be and she'll thank you forever.  Honestly!  I had a stack for Rowan and I made several for friends.  We all L.O.V.E. them.  Find the free pattern and tutorial here.

Why are they awesome?  They're easy to make.  If you're new to sewing, this is a great project.  There's more cutting involved than sewing!

They're multipurpose.  Here's my list of uses:

• catching baby spew (well, that's a given)
• to protect bed linens while nursing laying down
• emergency nursing cover
• emergency car seat protector (because mega diaper messes always happen when you're less than 5 minutes from home)
• public washroom change table pillow (when folded in half)

They're also very absorbent thanks to the layer of cotton quilt batting in the middle of the flannel.  Needless to say, if you only have a little time to make a little something for the new little someone...this should be it!

(2) Wipes Clutch

I'm not going to go on and on about them again.  There was already a post about that.  A great no-sew gift that's sure to be a diaper bag favourite.

(3) Owl Toy

They're crinkly, they're squishy, they're soft.  They're a.dor.a.ble!  And yes, they've already been posted.  Great for when baby is around 6 months old.  Made with felt, flannel, cuddle fabric, grosgrain and satin ribbon for a super-sensory experience.

Happy fabric shopping!

Flower and Dot Cuddle Blanket

I saw this absolutely adorable baby boy blanket tutorial on Pinterest a little while ago. 

Super duper cute, right?  I'll admit that I was tempted to make one for Rowan.  The only thing that stopped me was the fact that he didn't need another blanket.  Thank goodness for the arrival of my niece!  I changed things up a little to make it more....flowery and polka dotty :)

Instead of flannel shirts (which is a fantabulous design element), I used flannel fabric in three corresponding colours; about half a meter of each.  You'll also need one meter of cuddle or minky fabric and cotton quilt batting.  I used Warm and Natural in the Baby/Crib size, which is 115 x 150 cm (45" x 60") and needed to be trimmed down a bit.

The top of the quilt is done in a striped rag.  It's not a full-out rag quilt; just one layer of flannel was sewn (wrong sides together!) with a 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) seam allowance.

The flannel was sewn to the cotton batting down the middle of several stripes.  I laid the blanket top on the cuddle fabric with wrong sides together and cut the cuddle fabric 6cm (2") wider and longer than the blanket top.  To round the corners, I used this uber sophisticated device called a bowl. 

Get yer straight pins!  You'll need a whole whack of these for the next step: edge folding.

Fold the cuddle fabric in towards the blanket top 2.5cm (1").

Fold again the same amount so that the cuddle fabric is overlapping the edge of the blanket top.  Pin all the straight edges this way.

The rounded corners can be tricky to do neatly, but I figured out a method that works well for me.  If you have a different way, then bugger off and do whatever it is you do so well :)

Find the center of the rounded edge.  It doesn't have to be exact...just guesstimate.  Fold (as per the straight edges) and pin.

The diagram above is either going to tick you off or help you.  I hope it's the latter.  The center fold that you just did is number 1.  Move to either the right or left side (number 2) of the center.  Fold the fabric (as per the straight edges) and make a little tuck towards the center and pin.  Complete another tuck (number 3) and pin.  Do the opposite side in the same way, making sure to tuck towards the center. 

Repeat on all three remaining corners and you should have something that looks like this!

The last step is to sew around the cuddle fabric edge (see the 'He's All Boy' blanket tutorial for this).  While sewing, be sure you're catching the fabric itself and not just the fluffy bits.  

All done! 

Sweet Baby G

My niece Gillian arrived last week!  Her parents opted not to find out the gender (which I'm in favour of....personally), so I decided to wait until the little darling arrived before I got to work on baby gifts.  The next few posts will be covering all the goodies I managed to throw together in a few days.

Starting with another onesie dress and matching headband.  These dresses are so simple and quick to make.  Find the tutorial here.

Because I was in a hurray, I didn't take step-by-step photos of how to make these matching rolled fabric flowers.  Fear not, it won't be the last time I make them!

Sweet baby Gillian.  It's easy to forget how tiny they are...

...and how easy they are to photograph!

Have a great Thursday.

'C' is for Cookie (and Baby C!)

Almost a year ago, I saw these cookies on one of my favourite craft blogs: Homemade by Jill.  From that point on, I really, really, really wanted to make them for a baby shower.  When I found out that my friend Kathleen (yes, from the slipper post yesterday!) would be co-hosting a shower for a mutual friend, I asked her if I could make them as favours.  Wait - 'asked'?  No...I begged.  

They're so darn cute!!  And tasted great too.  I used my Grandma's sugar cookie recipe (sorry, not sharing that one!) and a royal icing recipe from Canadian Living.  There are lots of royal icing recipes that call for meringue powder, but my aunt (who is the queen of all things gingerbread) swears by using egg whites.  So I did!

I also got to  use my Cuttlebug for this project.  I cut out all the tags with the tiny tags die cutter and I discovered that the die was so sharp, I could cut several pieces of paper at a time.  Holy time-saver, Batman!  I printed off a bunch of 'Thank You' messages from the computer, cut them out and stuck them on.  Originally, I was hoping to cut out the tags directly from the 'Thank You' message paper, but lining the paper up and getting it to cut straight (or even semi-straight) was sort of difficult.  Above is the less-stress method.

I wish this photo had turned out better, but I photographed them at night and had to use a flash.  Meh, oh well :)

Becky (who's last name begins with a 'C'...does 'Baby C' make more sense now?) is having a girl, and although I gave her a few gender neutral clothing items (because what if the next one is a boy!?), I had to make the Itty Bitty Baby Dress from Made By Rae.  I altered the straps and replaced the ties with snaps. 

Also couldn't resist knitting up a pair of purple Perfect Baby Booties.

And, since I love making those slippers so much...

A pair for the Mama-to-be so that her feet will be cozy during the 3am diaper changes.  It's not just about the baby :)