Burp Rags

100% of the credit for the burp rags goes to my sister Jill.  She made me a set before Abigail was born, and I admit, I had to ask what they were used for.  Fast forward 4 kids and over 8 years later, and I can tell you that the burp rags Jill made me were far and beyond the most used baby gift we received.  And now that we don't have babies spitting up anymore, we still use them all the time for hankies, doll blankets, or whatever else the kids think up. 

The burp rags in the picture are all from the original set Jill made for us.  They have held up so well!  The only one that ever stained was one that was used for an emergency coffee spill in the car.  See? I told you they were useful for many things!

1 yard of flannel will make 4 burp rags, with a finished size of approx 8.5" x 20".  (Although I often use scraps, so they turn out to be different sized rectangles sometimes.)

• Go to the store to buy flannel.  Don't blow the budget when you see all the cute fabric!
• Prewash the flannel.
• Cut into the yard of fabric into 4- 9" strips.  Trim the selvage edge off, and then cut the strips in half.
• Iron.
• Place right sides together, and sew along the outsides, with a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving room to turn on one of the short sides.
• Clip the corners a little, so it will turn better.
• Flip right-side out, poking the corners a bit to lie flat.
• Iron again, making the opening lie flat, so it looks like the rest that is sewn. Pin if you feel inclined.  (This is the step I'm on in the picture below.)
• Top stitch around the outside.
• Top stitch across the middle, both the long way and the short way.

Fringed fleece baby blanket

I have recently made both rag quilts and no sew fleece blankets, but this baby blanket is sort of a combination of each.  It does take a little sewing, but not much, and can easily be done start to finish in an afternoon.  (Or over a few days during naptime when the kiddos are sleeping.)

I bought 1 yard each of 3 types of fleece.  In this case a stripe, a solid green and a solid blue.  It was enough to complete two blankets, plus I had extra of the solids.

Step One: Cut the fabric into 9" squares.  I highly recommend using a rotary mat and cutter for this step.  With them you can get it done very quickly.  Fleece comes in 60" width.  So taking your 36" x 60" fleece, you will cut the 36" side equally into 4 parts, to make 9" strips.  Then cut this every 9" into squares.  This should get you 24 squares, plus some extra at the end.

Step Two: Design the blanket layout.  As you can see in the picture I used the striped fleece in every other block, and then alternated the green and blue.
A=Stripes
B=Blue
C=Green

ABACA            With this pattern you will need 13 of A, 6 of B, and 6 of C.
CABAC
ACABA
BACAB
ABACA

A second pattern to use, which will work with the remaining squares would be:

ABCAB            With this pattern you will need 9 of A, 8 of B, and 8 of C.
CABCA
BCABC
ABCAB
CABCA

But, of course, you can make whatever pattern you like.

Step Three:  Stitch together the squares.  Use a 1/2" seam allowance.  I have mine all laid out in the floor, and then sew them in an assembly line, one right after the next, without stopping to cut the thread between each one.  When you are done all the seams will be sticking up, so it is very important to make sure you sew them the right direction.  I usually pinch each set of fabric up, as they will be sewn, to remind me which side to sew together.  (I wish I had more pictures of this, but will have to add them when I do this blanket again.)

Begin by completing each row.  (At this point I don't pin, since it is just one 9" square to the next, and fleece doesn't shift much.)  Next, sew each row to the next.  Now I pin.  Again, be sure that you have all your completed seams sticking up in the same direction.

When all the rows are done I sew around the outside edge, again with a 1/2" allowance.  This isn't really needed, since fleece won't fray, but I think it gives it a nice finished look, and a good guide for making the fringe.

Step Four: Cut! Cut! Cut!  Make sure you have a good pair of sharp scissors.  I also highly recommend Fiskars rag quilt snips.  The blades are shorter than scissors, and they are spring loaded, so they bounce back each snip.  It will save you both time and arm pain!  You will be snipping fringe on every seam.  I do them about every 1/4", or as close together as I can while still being consistent.  It gets tricky as you come to where the squares overlap, since you will be cutting several layers at once.  Just do a few layers at a time if you need to, and be careful not to cut off fringe as you go down the opposite direction.  I usually do this with a few breaks in between.  It seems the easiest part of the job, but is really tiring on your forearm.

All done! Final size should be a 40" square.

Welcome!

I decided to make a new blog.  With two going, what is one more, right?  I realized that I enjoy two things from the recipe blog, Look What I Cooked!  The first thing is reading and testing new recipes from friends and family.  And the second thing is that it helps me organize my own recipes, so that I can find things again, or even just browse through to find something to make for dinner.

So with that in mind I decided to start this blog, Look What I Made, so I can keep track of recent craft projects.  I know I browse books or ideas online, and then make something, and usually give it away.  But then when it is time to replicate it I can't remember what I've done.  So basically this may be a place just to keep my own notes on projects and ideas.  But if it helps someone along the way make a fun new project that is a fun bonus, too!