Baby Burp Cloths: How To

If you have a sewing machine, you can make these fun and easy baby burp cloths.  They are perfect for a homemade gift for someone who is expecting or just had a baby, or for yourself. 

This style and shape of burp cloth is perfect for putting on your shoulder while you burp the baby, but of course they are also great rags for all the cleaning up that you will surely do with a little one.

What you need:
1 yard of flannel fabric, any cute pattern is great
coordinating color of thread
sewing machine
scissors
pins

Step 1: Fold your flannel fabric in half, so that the pattern is on the inside.  Pin the pattern to both pieces of fabric, so that you will be cutting out two pieces.

I used some already cut pieces as a new "pattern" because the flannel sticks together.

You can usually get 3-4 burp cloths out of 1 yard of fabric.

Step 2: Sew around the edge of the fabric, about 1/4" in from the edge.  Leave an opening 4-5" long on one side of the fabric.  *I like to put a pin in each side of the opening to remind myself to stop in the right spot where I am sewing.

You can see my pins in the top center of the fabric.  This is where the opening is.

Close up of this step

 Step 3: Flip the fabric inside out so that the right side is facing out. 

You can see the open side is on the bottom now.

 Step 4:  Turn under the raw edges of the open side and pin them together to close the opening.  Try to turn in as much fabric as possible, to make it easier to sew it together. 

Step 5: Sew the edge of the fabric, starting with the pinned opening.  Be sure to sew close to the edge to catch the fabric and close up the opening.  Then sew 1/4" around the rest of the burp cloth.

Sew close to the edge when you are closing the opening, so the fabric stays closed.

If you are using a more simple pattern or just want a fun look, you can try other stitches such as a zig zag on the top stitching part.

Zig zags make this polka dot pattern more fun

The finished product!  A simple, cute burp cloth.

You can really have fun with all the different prints and patterns available at the fabric store.  I recommend buying at least 2 different prints so that you can mix and match and give out a few of each. 

Tons of cute fabrics!

These are so easy and quick to make, I turned these all around in a few hours.

I typically give these away in a pack of three, along with a shower gift or cute baby outfit.  You can tie a ribbon around them to dress them up:

For a baby boy

For a girly girl

 If you want to try these, the pattern is available here along with basic instructions.  If you want to use the cute chevron gift tags, you can download a free printable here.  I recommend printing them on card stock.