Embroidered Burp Clothes tutorial

It's that time of year: Baby showers and Christmas gifts. This is a quick and classy way to jazz up those everyday burp clothes. Here's what I did:

Pick some adorable fabrics that you think the gift receiver will enjoy. I made these for a lady in my husband's shop who did her daughter's nursery in very bright colors.

Take the edges and pin them, ironing the seams to make them easier to sew.

Lay them on top of the burp cloth, right down the middle. I used Gerber prefolds, which aren't absorbent enough to use as cloth diapers but work great to wiping up all those other baby messes. Pin them down and you're ready to sew.

Choose a zigzag stitch and make sure that your needle and stitch goes through the fabric and over the seam into the burp cloth.

I attached my quilting foot and embroidery attachment and added the Baby Girl's initials to some of the clothes. If you don't have an embroidery attachment, you can choose your button hole stitch and you can free hand it. It won't be as neat as a machine embroider (unless you have a steady hand, and I do not) but it still adds a very personal touch.

This is the finished product! You can make as many or few as you want. I added a little ribbon to the bundle and you're ready to give a personalized gift.

Trashy tutorial

My car is a mess and a half right now. A day of errands usually ends with receipts and gum wrappers and snack bags all over the seats. I decided to make this handy little trash can for my car and with the help of a secret weapon is stays open all the time, for easy one-handed trashing. Here's what you need:

2 pieces of fabric (print and coordinating) for the body

2 pieces of fabric for the straps

1 4"x4" square for your applique

My print fabric measured 10"x10" and my coordinating measured 12"x10" so I could make a little rim. My straps were about a foot long and 3 inches wide.

Pins

Rotary cutter/scissors

WonderUnder (or another fabric fusing material)

Pipe cleaner

The first thing is to make your applique. Follow the directions on the package of WonderUnder and cut out your design. I made a little trashcan, for obvious reasons.

After you cut our your applique, iron it onto the center of your patterned fabric. Then stitch around it using a straight stitch. You can add a little detail, like I did, if you want.

Then you'll want to layer your solid fabric and your patterned fabric wrong sides together. Pin them right down the middle and at the bottom, making a little sack with an opening at the top. You should have about an inch or two of fabric left at the top of your solid fabric - this is for the rim.

Sew your seams. These are just easy cheesy straight lines. It doesn't matter if they are perfect, because you can trim them and you're going to flip the whole thing rightside out when you're finished.

Flip your bag out and pin the extra fabric for your rim over. Iron it so it stays, but don't stitch it down yet. Take your fabric strips for your handles and attach them in the back, under the rim.

Sew a straight stitch across the back of your bag along the rim, securing the straps. You will want to back stitch to make sure that you have a little extra reinforcement. Now you can add the pipe cleaner. This is just sturdy enough that the bag will stay open all the time. Slip it under the front bit of the fabric rim and sew around the front.

And you're done! You can add velcro on the end of your straps and shorten them for a perfect fit, but I left mine long so I can just tie them to the back of the head rest. Trim up your threads and go find an old produce bag and you're on your way to a more tidy car. This is what it looks like when you're all done.