Dick and Jane Baby Blankets

Several months ago I came across some fabulous Dick and Jane fabric that I just had to have. Of course, I had no clue what I was going to do with it and it ended up sitting around in my stash for quite a while (like so much of the fabric that I buy). Well, the print is just too large to be of real use in my dolls, but I figured I'd eventually come up with something.

Then I had my "ah-hah" moment. What if I made them into baby blankets? That would be a good use, right? But I got to looking at some of the blankets that I use now for my little girl, and the ones that are a full yard are just too big and unwieldy. So I was stuck pondering on baby blanket sizes and what would be ideal.

Then I thought, "Well, wouldn't it be better if I made a burp cloth to match the blanket? That would be way better than just a blanket. Who doesn't like sets of things? I like sets of things." Of course, just a plain ole piece of cotton fabric doesn't make for a very good burp cloth. It'd soak right on thru that. From my experience, cloth diapers make the best burp cloths - very absorbent. So I knew what I had to with my Dick and Jane fabric.

And this is what I did:

1) Get 1 yard of each of 2 coordinating cotton fabrics.

2) Get 2 premium prefolded cotton cloth diapers from the store.

3) Wash and dry everything to pre-shrink. Iron everything. (And boy, do those diapers shrink and wrinkle-up.)

4) Measure cloth diaper. Cut a piece from the corner of each fabric to measured size.

5) With right sides together, pin one fabric piece to one diaper. Do the same with the other fabric on the second diaper.

6) Sew most of the way around, leaving about 4 inches open at the bottom.

7) Turn burp cloth right side out and hand-sew opening closed.

8) Iron flat at the seams.

9) Use a 1" seam allowance - sew around each burp cloth to finish off.

10) Take the big pieces of fabrics, lay flat with right sides together. Cut into an even rectangle for the blanket.

11) Sew most of the way around, leaving about 4 inches open at the bottom.

12) Turn blanket right side out and hand-sew opening closed.

13) Iron flat at the seams.

14) Use a 1" seam allowance - sew around the blanket to finish it off.

My finished blankets turned out to be about 26"x33". Which is a good size - large enough to wrap around baby or lay her down on, but not so large that it's dragging the ground or getting tangled up. The burp cloths are 12"x17".

So there you have it. You can make some too. I've listed for sale the Dick and Jane sets in my etsy shop at: http://www.fun4me2.etsy.com/.

I've got some more fabrics that I plan to use for more baby blanket/burp cloth sets ... some Holly Hobbie and Beatrix Potter. (Don't know what it is with me and nostalgic fabric that makes me think "baby blanket", oh well.) I really hope that I get around to making them.