Baby Gift #2 bibs, burp pads, onesies and a chenille blanket

If you remember back a while ago I mentioned that I have 3 baby's on the way! Not me personally... But from friends and family members.

I knew that with all the craziness of the wedding that if I was going to give handmade gifts, which I prefer to do , then I would need to be organized and get going on it. Doesn't that always seem to be easier said than done????

Well, this time I have managed so far to be fairly organized and productive.

As usual I work backwards. I purchase fabric first and then decide what to do with it later. My local quilt shop has closed it's doors forever and in the past several weeks they have had some great sales. I took advantage of these sales to buy enough fabric to make whatever came to my fancy. :) it was nice to have enough coordinating fabric to make several items without having to super plan it all out first.

I did have a rough idea as to what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to make another set of bibs and burp pads and I purchased enough onesies in the beginning to embroider some for all the little babies in the way.

For this gift my base set of fabric was flannel. Instead of making a quilt I decided to try my hand at someone new and made a chenille blanket. Ohhhhhhh..... I want one just for me snuggle under!



I used 4 layers of flannel. The 'top' which was layered face down (polka dot yellow) , a base (multicolored stripe, also used for the binding) and 2 top layers a yellow then a green watercolor dot looking flannel.



I then spent several solid hours stitching straight lines across the bias every 1/2 inch. Thank goodness for a good walking foot! I can only imagine all of the shifting and mess it would have been going across the bias on 4 layers of flannel.


Next up was the FUN part, the slashing! At the same quilting store that went out of business as I got the fabric I also purchased their last chenille rotary cutter. This made the entire process of slashing the top 2 layers of flannel (the green and yellow) very easy. After slashing I rounded the corners, bound the entire thing by machine and then put it in the washer and dryer so that the slashed edges could 'bloom'.






As soon as I took it out of the dryer I fell in love. I instantly wanted to make an enormous blanket for myself to snuggle under. Hehehe. I ran upstairs to share my love with my hubby and got the good 'ole 'that's nice'. LOL!!! I guess you have to be a sewer to get excited over these things :)

I used the extra flannel and some pink corduroy to back the bibs and burp pads.














AND..... I figured out how to embroider on onesies without a great deal of pain and with great results! I guess trial and error a the best way to learn. In all fairness I did also do an extensive search on the blogosphere to see how others had done these. Of course, just like anything else, everyone has there own way of coming to success and their own great failures. So I gleaned various bits of info from here and there and tried again. I'm very happy with my results this time.




- Posted by Steph from Siouxzeegirl Designs

Location:Lisle, IL