baby gift tutorial

I noticed that Baby Girl liked to play with the tags on toys, often more than the toys themselves. I mentioned this and my Aunt Kay (who is herself a super crafty and frugal gourmet) said she had seen ribbons sewed and looped around a bit of fleece and how cute it was.

Using some remnants of fleece, scraps of ribbon (and scavenging some ribbon scraps from my mom as well) and some advice from my mom (as I have very limited sewing experience)... this is what we came up with. I made one for Baby Girl and then wrote this tutorial as I made the second one for a gift.

I love that this is a personal gift that is creative and that (potentially) is free if you have the fabric and ribbon on hand.

Step 1: Cut out two pieces of fleece. Mine was about 10"x13" (it doesn't have to be any exact size)

Step 2: Select some bits of ribbon that you like. About a dozen is what I used. Cut them all to roughly 6 inches in length. (again this is not exact)

Step 3: Lay one piece of fleece right side up. Lay your ribbons out where you want them then pin them with the loop facing to the inside. Then go back and baste the ribbons in place.

Step 4: Lay the other piece of fleece on top (right side down) and pin the two together.

Step 5: Sew around the edges being sure to leave a space of 4-5 inches open so that you can turn it right side out. Since my space was over one of the ribbons I sewed the ribbon to one side only so that it would stay in place when I flipped it. After sewing, trim all the loose ends of ribbon, the edges and cut the corners at an angle.


Step 6: Flip it right side out. Pull the corners out. Use a needle and thread to close up the opening. I just whip stitched it closed (thankfully fleece is kind of fluffy so it's very forgiving if your stitches aren't pretty- like mine!).


Step 7: Sew once again around the edge of the blankie to give it a finished look and so it will lay flat.
That's it! Told you it was easy.

Any ideas for names for this little creation?

If you have a machine or want to put some money into this it would be cute to get one piece of fleece monogrammed before piecing this together and would look very professional.

For more frugal ideas check out Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood!