Baby Shower Gift Idea - Handmade Burp Cloths

My post on Pregnancy Journal has been a huge hit on my blog. Thanks to Jen @ Iheart organizing for her feature and all of you that liked it. As mentioned in that post, I also made some burp clothes for the baby shower gift.

I bought some colorful cotton fabric and a few yards of white flannel.

I washed and ironed all fabric, cut each cotton fabric to a rectangle, size approximately long enough to be a burp cloth. Cut the flannel to same size for backing each burp cloth, layered on colorful fabric with wrong side out, cut corners and sewed all around, leaving a 2 inch opening to turn the right side out. Once turned all the way out, I sewed around the edge, concealing the opening. You could do a couple of straight stitches in the middle so it stays flat when washed. I skipped it, since the patterns on the fabrics are so cute, I didn't want to mess with it.

It is not my own idea. Sewing is not my skill, so I followed tutorials available on the blogland, like this and this.

One big tip I learned from a seamstress is, while turning the fabric inside out, you can get perfect sharp corners by using a needle or safety pin to pull the corners out. Be gentle though or you pull the fabric threads out. Ignore my nails screaming NEED-A-MANICURE!

Look at these beauties. My absolute favorite is the top one, so colorful and pretty.

I tried to sew a band to bundle them up, didn't come out very good, but it served the purpose. I stamped 'handmade just for you' on it, but again, didn't come out as nice as I would have liked, but served the purpose.

The gift was given, loved by the then-mom-to-be, baby is born, probably used and disposed these already and close to celebrating his first birthday. But everytime I see these pictures, I get all giddy that I could sew something that looked so pretty. Truth is, its the fabric that's pretty, not my sewing. Oh, well.

Seriously, if you own a sewing machine, consider this for a baby shower gift. It will be an easy & pretty gift as well as something they can use daily for quite some time.

There is another version of burp cloths with cloth diapers that I want to give a try next time.

Owlie Owlie...

Owls are everywhere these days. Its like the theme of the of the year. One of them made its way into our house too. I was window shopping at Z Gallerie during Thanksgiving weekend and spotted this Ceramic Owl coin bank. It was $12.95 and everything in store was 20% off that weekend.

I have been wanting to buy a piggy bank for my baby ever since I started planning her nursery even before she was born. But this Owlie changed my mind instantly. It looks more modern than babyish unlike the piggy. So at $11.16 (with tax), it flew home with me and is resting on our baby's dresser.

Baby Mobile update

The baby mobile I made as part of Fall Pinterest Challenge hosted by Katie and Sherry felt a little too empty. So I enhanced it by adding some circles I made with paint chips. I have read online that many people felt it is not fair to get paint chips just for using them for decoration, instead of using them for choosing paint colors. I felt a little guilty too. So I asked the guy at paint section in Home Depot if I could take couple of paint chips in 3 colors for a personal use. He gave me a 'You are funny' look and joked "Sure, but don't take all of them". It may have been strange for him to ask but I felt good that I took permission. Its just for personal satisfaction so when I tell people I took them from store they don't think I stole them.

Anyway, here are the before and after.

What do you think? Is it better? not so much?

No Sew Crib Skirt

I bought our baby's crib and crib bedding on clearance at Target. It was very economical, but the bedding didn't include a crib skirt. I have been planning on sewing one on my own. But with my sewing skills I knew it would be one long project. So I did some quick fix with a fabric I ordered for $3 a yard on fabricguru.com.

• Cut the fabric according to the length of the crib and the height between crib railing and floor, adding 3 inches for seams. 
• Hemmed the floor side of fabric with iron on hemming tape.
• Attached the other side of fabric to inner side of crib railing using Scotch adhesive mounting squares.

Simple as that. After I am done with it I accidentally found this video on YHL blog which is very neat. (Now I know why they are famous, its all in the details). So to make my skirting more professional, I went to Walmart to get velcro wanting to replace the adhesive mounting squares with them. There were few choices, but there is one that was just 79 cents so bought it. Once I reached home, I cut an inch wide piece of both sides of the velcro and tried to attach it to the fabric. DAMN! There is no adhesive to it. I bought the wrong kind. It was a sew on velcro. I should have taken some time to read the labels and give it a thought before buying. Lesson learnt. I am not in mood to go back to the store for the right kind, so the skirt has to stay like that for now.

Did any of you do an unthoughtful purchase like this and din't realize until you are ready to use it? Come on, tell me I am not the only one.

Did you notice the cute little socks on the crib? A friend gave them for the baby, they were too cute to be used and outgrown in no time. So I stuffed them with some tissue paper and placed them on the crib. They look more like shoes to me. The skirt fabric actually ties in with the colors of the bedding I found for $35 at Target. I used the spare fitted sheet here, which also matches with the set, but the original sheet that came with it is pink and brown/green polka dots.

Quick Dresser Update

We bought an Ikea dresser for our baby but the look of it didn't fit in for a baby room. So I decided to change the knobs to give it a quick update. I bought 6 drawer knobs from Anthropologie, 2 in Yellow and 4 in Red (I would have liked them in pink, but they didn't have. They have a green now which I would have picked if they had it then), changed up the black metal knobs that came originally with the dresser and it instantly makes the dresser look modern and fresh. To me, it looks like a whole different dresser. It may not seem so in the picture (Sorry the picture is a little dark), but believe me, it does.

Did you dressup any basic ikea furniture? Do Tell.