Baby Blanket and Burp Cloths

I have a group of friends from college that I'm still pretty close with.  All of us are married (or just about married) at this point, but for a while there I was the only one with kids.  What can I say, my husband and I were quick to get started.  Now everyone is catching up and having babies and I love it (mostly because I'll get to hold the baby and marvel at it's cuteness but not have it attached to my boob 24 hrs a day while not sleeping... ahh the joys of newborns).  Since I know #3 is not in the cards for me, it's fun to get excited and make gifts for friend's babies.  


Little baby Lexi should be arriving in the next couple weeks and like any good friends, we showered her mama with all kinds of baby goodies a couple weeks ago.  I decided to make a receiving blanket with her name and some custom burp cloths, because wiping up barf should be stylish too... right?

I made the blanket with a yard of pink polkadot flannel I got at JoAnne's.  Then I cut a rectangle from the cotton bird fabric the same width as the flannel and pressed the top and bottom edges under about a 1/2 inch.  Once that was pinned in place I did a blanket stitch all the way around the bird-tastic rectangle. You can see the stitch below.

After that was attached, I hemmed the blanket all the way around by folding the edges under twice and sewing with a straight stitch.  Above you can see the back and what the hem looks like.


After that, I printed out the letters for ALEXIS on regular paper and cut them out.  Then I applied Heat N' Bond to the pink gingham fabric. I laid my letters on the paper backing of the Heat N' Bond (that was now attached to the pink gingham) and traced them. (Remember to trace your letters backwards since you're tracing on the back of your fabric)  Next I cut out my fabric letters, peeled off the paper backing, and adhered them to my blanket using my iron.

Once they were stuck on I sewed around each one with a blanket stitch.  You can use any stitch really, I just liked how this one looked.

For the first time making something like this, I think it turned out pretty good.


The burp cloths were made the same way except I did not use Heat N' Bond.  The fabric pieces I attached were pretty small so I felt the stitching would hold everything just fine.

I did a lot of experimenting with all of the different stitches my machine can do for this project.  It wasn't hard at all and makes everything look so much nicer :)

That's it.  I hope baby Lexi arrives soon... I need a quick newborn fix. : )