Quick and Easy Handmade Burp Cloths

One thing you can never have enough of with a baby in the house is burp cloths. They serve as an all-purpose napkin/hankie/washcloth/bib and you go through them quickly. A co-worker of mine recently became a dad and I thought these burp cloths that I saw at Rocks in My Dryer would be the prefect gift.

Shannon made hers with two coordinating fabrics, but the choices were limited at my fabric store and I LOVED the one I found so much that I just bought two yards of it. If you find two that coordinate, you'll need one yard of each. You'll get around 6 cloths out of two yards and it took me a couple of hours to make mine, but that includes several interruptions by the kiddos.

MATERIALS NEEDED

2 yards of flannel

Thread to match

Pinking shears or scissors

Pins

Step 1: Wash, dry and iron your fabric. This is important because the fabric will shrink and shift and you want it to do this before you sew.

Step 2: Make a pattern out of an 11 X 17 inch piece of paper (or tape 2 sheets of 8.5 X 11 together along the 11 inch sides). Use a cup or glass to trace a rounded edge in each corner and cut the corners out.

Step 3: Place your fabric right-sides (printed sides) together; trace your pattern on the back of the fabric laying the edges as close to each other as possible.

Step 4: Cut the fabric pieces out (use pinking shears if you have them) keeping the two pieces together.

Step 5: Pin the pieces together in various places around the edges. (You all know I'm a rebel and don't like to use pins, so pretend I followed my own directions. K?)

Step 6: Using slightly more than a 1/4 inch seam allowance, start stitching about half-way down one of the long sides of the cloth. Sew all the way around the edges leaving a 4 to 5-inch opening on the side.

Step 7: Reach inside the opening and turn the piece right-side out. Push out the corners and iron the entire piece to make the edges nice and neat and easier to sew.

Step 8: Using LESS THAN a 1/4 inch seam allowance, stitch all the way around the edge of the cloth. The smaller seam allowance will sew the opening closed and will go right through the original seam allowance giving some stability to the cloth. Make sure you back stitch.

Step 9: Trim your threads and you're done!!!

Heather is a wife, mom,school cafeteria worker,councilwoman and babysitter from Ohio.She also blogs at Heather LessiterIts All for the Bestand The Fat Bottomed Girl.