Burp Cloth Makeover

It's no real surprise that I have a TON of burp cloths seeing as how I have two kids. They seem to accumulate every time you have a new baby, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Babies spit up, sometimes a lot, so it's great to have a ton of these guys on hand when you need them. Some of the burp cloths I have are super cute because I have one friend who is all about monograms and loves adding names to things. The same friend also gifted both of the bears blankets, and they love their Aunt Winny blankets. I dare not to venture outside of the home for an extended period of the day without bringing them, otherwise chaos ensues. But I digress. I'm not here to talk about blankets, although I'm sure I'll visit that topic one day because I did make a super soft and cute blanket for my squishy niece and it was extremely easy!

Back to burp cloths. There's always a black sheep in the family though right? And the black sheep of the burp cloth family would be those super thin, flat fold cloth diapers that Gerber sells. Some people probably love them, but I personally don't. When my kids spit up, they went big. I could only use that burp cloth for one barf explosion, but then I'd have to get a second one to clean up what the other left behind. I really want to love them, I do, but I think the key to a great burp cloth is absorbency. Am I right? I always dreaded when I got to the end of my burp cloth stash and had to end up using these little guys, and then I'd kick myself for not staying caught up on laundry. So now that I'm pregnant again, I decided that I was going to do something about my not-so-favorite burp cloths. I paroozed, scoured, searched Pinterest for a tutorial on these scrawny burp cloths, but to no avail. They had great ideas for the thick Gerber cloth diapers, but not the thin ones. Womp, womp, womp. So, if there's not a tutorial, then I'll just figure it out as I go, right? And besides, if I mess up, it won't be any great loss because 1. The burp cloths are already stained from the past two kids and 2. I don't like them anyway, so still no loss there.


Here's what I used to re-vamp these burp cloths:

2 Gerber Flat Fold Cloth Diapers
One piece of Flannel
Thread
Sewing Machine
Iron
Ironing Board
Pins
Sewing Clips


Again, the key to a good burp cloth (in my opinion) is absorbency. I decided to try using two of these flat fold cloth diapers from Gerber because the more layers the better.

Since my burp cloths are used, they were a tad on the wrinkled side, so it was time to bust out the iron to get them as smooth and as even as possible.

The trickiest part of dealing with these burp cloths is that the edges aren't even. Typically when I sew, I have nice, clean, crisp lines, but that isn't the case with these guys. The edges have been surged, and those sewn edges make it a bit wonky. I laid two burp cloths together and tried to line up the edges the best I could. I had to do a lot of tugging and pulling to get them lined up together. Don't worry if it isn't terribly perfect, it shouldn't show later.

**We aren't going to worry about "right" and "wrong" sides in this part (if you're new to sewing, I'll explain that bit later) since they're basically the same all around. Just make sure you line up the short sides of the cloth with the short sides, and the long with the long sides since this is more rectangular in shape than square.

As you're lining up the edges of the cloth, you'll want to pin the fabric together. I usually pin my fabric with the pins vertically, or straight up and down with the ball at the edge of the fabric, but I found that the pins slipped out of the fabric very easily since it's so thin. I ended up using a mixture of sewing clips and pins to keep everything in place, although I'm thinking it probably would have been best to pin horizontally in this step instead of vertically. If you do pin vertically, you'll probably want to check your floor later to make sure you didn't drop any.

The clips I used came from Hobby Lobby and they're the Klear Top Quilter's Perfect Klips. You can find them here.

Once you've gotten everything pinned in place, you'll want to do a stitch around the edges. You can do a basting stitch if you want, that's just a really long stitch, but I didn't feel like adjusting my stitch length back and forth during this project so I just left it at a 2.5 stitch length. I used a 5/8 inch seam allowance just so I wouldn't be so close to the edges of the uneven fabric. Make sure to remove your pins as you go. You don't want to sew over the pins because it could damage the machine or break your needle. I'm pretty sure you don't want flying needles happening in your face!

I may be pretty decent at sewing straight edges, but I'm not going to lie, I love this sewing guide. Sometimes I get distracted by little people running by while I'm sewing and this helps keep me in check. I haven't always had one of these, but mama found a bunch of sewing attachments that fit my machine so she passed them along to me. Shout out to mom, because she's the real MVP!

Once you've sewn all around the edges, you'll have a thicker version of the original burp cloth you had before. But, we're going to make it even thicker!

At this point I ironed the burp cloth again just for good measure, but I probably could have just skipped it. I just wanted to make sure all my edges were flat after sewing them. Next, take the burp cloth and fold it short sides together. I'd say hotdog or hamburger style folding, but let's be honest, I never understood that as a kid, let alone an adult. 😉

Line the edges up again and pin (or clip). I found that pinning this time was sufficient as there was more fabric for my pins to go through. Sew with a 5/8" seam allowance again.

When you've finished sewing around the edges it should look like this!

A cute, chunky piece of fabric that looks more like the prefold cloth diapers. Score! Next you'll want to bust out your flannel fabric. I didn't measure the exact size of the flannel fabric that I cut. Instead, I just set the new burp cloth on top of the flannel fabric, with the flannel fabric right side up. The right side of the fabric is the patterned side (the other side of this flannel fabric is white). Cut the flannel fabric to match the size of the burp cloth.I just used my ruler and rotary cutter for this. Easy peasy.

I'm sure you can tell from the above picture that the burp cloth has less than perfect edges, so there may be some flannel fabric that hangs a little below the burp cloth itself. That's okay, we'll just trim it to make it as even as possible!

Bam. Problem solved. Aren't you glad? I am too! Once you've got everything as even as possible, you should have something like this.

Just leave the fabric where it's laying and pin around the edges again. When you pin this time, be sure to leave about a 1-2" opening so that you can flip the fabric right side out. I usually put two pins where my opening begins and ends so I know I'm not supposed to sew past that point.

Sew with a 5/8" seam allowance again. I was just keeping with what I've been doing the whole time just to make my life easier. When you're finished, clip the corners of the burp cloth that way when you flip it right side out the edges won't be so bulky. I also like to iron my seams open so that the edges are nice and crisp on the outside as well. Some people like to do that, and some people don't, but I just find it makes things look a little nicer if I take that extra step.

Using the opening you left unsewn, flip the fabric right side out. I used the handle of a wooden spoon to help push out the corners of the burp cloth. I didn't take a picture of me doing that, sorry! I totally didn't think about it, and then I didn't want to have to flip it inside out again to get a picture. My apologies. I ironed the burp cloth again just to get out all the wrinkles I put in the fabric when I flipped it, and then I pinned around the edges again to do a top stitch around the edges to keep everything flat.

I sewed around the edges using a 3/8" seam allowance, and then I realized DUH, you have to close the hole that you left in the burp cloth. I ended up doing a 1/4" seam around again, but I probably should have done something even smaller than even that. But you know, it's all good.

And that my friends is it! I wish I could show you how thick this thing is. I think I like this better than some of my other burp cloths. Flannel is a really good addition to any burp cloth just because it absorbs liquids like spit up pretty well. I'm sure some of you are probably thinking that you could have gone out and bought new burp cloths in less time than it took me to make this, but sometimes I'd rather just use and work with what I have than to just go out and buy something new. These little guys still had plenty of life in them, they just needed a bit of a boost. I don't see the point in buying something new if I don't really need it, and I think re-purposing old things is so much more fun because you can put your own spin on it!

If you try this, let me know! I'd love to see what your re-purposed burp cloths look like! Until next time!

-Jor