Sewing for Pea - Funky Edged Burp Cloths

For instalment 3 of my "Sewing for Pea" series ("Pea" is the nickname for the baby we're expecting in the next few weeks), I thought I would show you these burp cloths made from plain soft cloth nappies which I edged with some funky fabric.

OK, now I know the baby is not going to take much notice, and having a patterned edge on a burp cloth is hardly a necessity, but as a wannabe surface pattern designer, I get a lot of pleasure from having colour and pattern around me. I hear from other mums that you can't have enough cloths to hand for burping, moping up, as a cover up when feeding, swaddling, pram blanket etc., so I figure why not have them look a bit funky as well as being practical. They also make great gifts with a handmade touch.

Here's how I made them*.

1. I bought a bulk lot of soft cotton nappy cloths in size 70cmx80cm (you can use any size you like, just adjust the binding length accordingly) and some fat quarters of some patterned fabric. As we don't know if we're having a girl or boy, I opted for my favourite gender-neutral colour, turquoise, which looks great with lime greens, pinks or oranges.

2. I made binding tape by sewing together lengths of my patterned fabric with a width of 7cm to make one long piece of just over 3m (so that it would fit all the way around the cloth). I folded the piece lengthways in half, pressed and then folded in the top and bottom edges around 1cm towards the middle and pressed again - see picture:

3. Ensuring that the cloth edge fitted snug into the binding, I pinned the binding tape all the way around the edge of the cloth, at the corners folding the binding in on itself (on both sides) at a 45 degree angle to create a mitred edge.

4. Finally, I machine sewed the binding on to the cloth, removing the pins as I went and stitching diagonally on the mitred edges.

 

* Don't forget to wash, dry and press all your cloths and binding tape fabric before starting to allow for any shrinkage when they are washed later (which they will be many times!).

For other baby sewing projects, see my Tag Blankie and Patchwork Play Quilt