Baby gifts- Homemade

These homemade baby gifts are a fun way to surprise a new mom.
The tiny blanky is made small (between 12-15 inches)
to be portable so that the baby doesn't have to drag a full-sized
blanket around to be comforted on outings etc. Start by picking some coordinating fabrics that you like and
cut it to be bewtween 13"-16" inches depending on how
big you want it to turn out.

you can add a decorative edge to one of the sides sewing strips
of your coordinating print to the sides or just put your
coordinating print on the other side.

for the back of this blanky, I used part of a brown fleece
blanket that I bought premade for only $4.00.
Fleece by the yard can be a little pricey.

Next select some ribbon that matches the colors in the fabric.
They can be different widths.

Cut the ribbon to be about 3".
You will need about 7 ribbon pieces per blanket side

Using your iron or a flat iron, put a crease down
the middle of the ribbon to help it stay flat.

Lay the ribbon where you want it to be sewn (varying the
ribbon types) and pin (or tape) them to the FACE of the
blanket then add the back of the blanket so that the
two outside pieces are inside with the ribbons. Sew
together leaving a small space to pull it back to its right side.

After pulling the blanket right-side-out (the Ribbons will naturally
poke out as seen in the photo of the completed blanket), sew along
the edges again to secure the ribbons more firmly in place.



If you want to add a little toy animal that matches it's even better. My friend Teresa
got the idea for the giraffe from makeitandloveit (blog address on my sidebar),
but since I made mine a little differently, I thought I would show you how I did it.

Start by making a patern out of an 8.5" x 11" paper.
Cut out a front and a back for the giraffe
(again, I used the brown fleece blanket
for the back leaving the edging on the bottom
for the hoofs).


Cut a strip from the coordinating fabric to
add to the bottom of the legs.

Sew these pieces on BEFORE sewing
the rest of the giraffe together.

Now add you ribbon (using the same instructions as
above). You can see that I prefer to tape the
ribbon rather than pin it- it's faster and it stays nicely
in place until you have finished sewing it.

Add a pinch of the coordinating fabric for the tail.

Follow the same instructions as with the blanket sewing the
outer pieces inside with the ribbons leaving
a small opening to pull it right-side-out.


When you are finished you can make a "baby" giraffe to go with its mama and also embellish it any way you want (being careful about pieces that could present a choking hazard.)

You can monogram the blanky if you like
(this is the first one I made for my baby) .

Get creative....you can do so many variations,

My son David loves to help me design things.
Together we made a tiny dinosaur for his friend's birthday.

H a p p y C r e a t i n g !

Stay tuned....

Next up....how to make stylish baby bibs with
your favorite fabric and ......

a shower curtain!

P.s. this is my first ever attempt at making a tutorial...
if this was helpful to you please let me know so that
i can see if making more of them is worth the effort!