Handmade Baby Gifts (personalizing onesies and burp cloths)

Guest post from Christy Halsell

Last month I showed you an easy way to make baby booties and today I’ll show you a few of the other baby gifts I have made.  With basic sewing knowledge, you can make them too!

• Custom burp cloths:  all you need is ribbon and a sewing machine.  (Sometimes at Target they have ribbon sets in the $1 section!  If you buy those ribbons, you’ll need two sets because they’re short.)

• Embroidered onesies: I either trace and transfer a pattern I like, or just buy iron-on patterns at the craft store or Sublime Stitching.  (these patterns came from this super-cute book).  Simple steps for tracing a pattern:

1.  I bought embroidery tracing paper and hot iron transfer pencils.  Then just trace the design onto the paper.  2.  Pin the design onto the onesie.  Follow the directions to iron it on.

3.  Trace the pattern with your embroidery.

Two easy stitches I use are the back stitch and the split stitch.

Here’s another pattern I stitched:

Don’t forget the bottom!  But do learn from my mistakes, this little pattern turned out a little too high for my taste.  If you can, try the onesie on a real baby before you do your stitching to make sure the pattern is in the right place (especially if you’re going to do it on the backside!)

• matching onesies and burp cloths: you can do this by adding appliques to them.  I used old fabric scraps (in fact, the one with the bee was made with fabric from a dress I wore when I was three!).  I buy bulk packs of onesies and cloth diapers from the baby store or Amazon.

Some tips for these onesies/burp cloths:

1. Choose patterns you want to make and trace onto fabric scraps,  cut out two of each.  (I find cute patterns just by searching online or by looking through coloring books.  Sometimes cookie cutters or stencils can work too!)
2. Sew any embellishments onto the applique.  (I used different fabric for the bee’s stripes and the elephant’s ear – sew these on at this time, too)
3. Cut interfacing out to match the applique and iron to back.  This will make the applique stand out a little more and be cutely poofy.
4. Sew the appliques to the onesies and burp cloths.  You can use a zigzag stitch along the edges, or leave a bit of space around the edge of the applique and do a straight stitch.  **Be sure to check the needle guidelines for your sewing machine to make sure you’re using the right needle for such light, stretchy fabric*

I’d love to hear some of your baby gift ideas, you can add them to the comments below.  And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

*if you like these ideas, please pin this post