Sewing for baby . . .

I have a wonderful friend who is having another baby. Eeeek. I am so excited for her! I decided I wanted to make her something special from my sewing machine. I saw this tutorial for burp cloths over on Homemade by Jill quite some time ago and saved it in my star folder in Google Reader. I knew it was time.

I began by making the burp cloths in some super cute flannel fabric. The only changes I made was that instead of putting quilt batting in the middle, I used white fleece. It was something I had on hand and it was cheaper. I think they turned out super cute!

Then I decided she needed some matching bibs. I like this pattern (from the same link) because it's pretty tiny so it will work well for a newborn. (My friend loves turtles so this fabric is perfect!)

I decided she really needed a friend to play with so I also made a little stuffed fleece kitty. I got the idea from this post over on Obsessively Stitching. Care's are way cuter, but I like mine too, especially since they were an afterthought.






These onesies** were a take on the little tie applique onesies that I have seen around the web. I simply cut a heart (with the cute little turtle in the middle) and stuck it to the onesie with a piece of double sided fusible webbing for one and a butterfly shape for another. I then took 3 strands of embroidery floss and blanket stitched around the edge. (I found a cool tutorial that helps the stitches not to curl under the fabric here. ) The third one has some butt ruffles made out of the remaining polka dot fabric. I just sewed a tube, flipped it right-side out, ironed it flat and sewed it to the butt. While I was sewing, I took my seam ripper and scrunched up the fabric and pushed it under the presser foot. I think it is adorable!

The flowers are, of course, homemade flower head bands.

I also decided that I needed to make a matching receiving blanket. I have never quilted, but I did not have enough fabric to make a solid one so I decided to do a patchwork. I tried to get handy and put a border around it even though I am sure that there was an easier way to do it. I did a half hearted attempt at a google search for quilt bindings and in the end just decided to wing it. The back is simply white flannel. Since she is a spring baby, I decided not to do any batting. I stitched around all the patchworks on the top of the blanket and once it was together and flipped right side out I stitched 3 squares to hold it all together.



I am pretty proud of it! There is nothing like a soft, pink blankie to make me want to hold a baby!

** When I ran into Target for a pack of onesies, I run right into the expectant mommy that I am making it for. Her shower is a surprise! It was difficult to tell her I am buying onesies for a project. I don't think she was suspicious, I just thought it was funny!