Baby Shower Gifts

I knew that all I had to do was live through the SF Marathon so that I could have a fun weekend in Southern California with a good friend of mine.  I had been crafting gifts for her for weeks.  I think the best part for me is that I was actually able to keep it a secret.  I’m terrible at keeping gift secrets because I get so excited.  She is a friend who I know doesn’t mind if my seams are crooked or if I accidentally let the fabric crinkle and overlap.  It takes the pressure off and I’m much more willing to do simple sewing projects.  

My favorite fabric store doesn’t sell flannels since they supply home fabrics for upholstery and drapery projects, so I hopped over to Joann’s during my lunch hour to check out their baby patterns.  Everything was so cute that it was really hard to decide.   I ended up going with three prints and coordinating solid fleece.   I used half a yard of each fabric, which I think works well for a burp cloth/swaddle blanket.  I don’t know if half a yard is quite wide enough to swaddle, but newborns are small so I hope so.  Can you tell I don’t have kids yet?  I have no idea what I’m doing. All I had to was sew up the edges, but for me, that is a pretty big feat.

 

The next project I set work on was to decorate some onesies.  All of my stuff is homemade and definitely looks homemade.  That is the beauty of it.  I started with iron on appliques, but then I got bold and made a faux pocket and sewed on a bow.  These didn’t take that long, but I did start and stop quite a few times, which is probably why it took me so long to craft everything. I would do a little and stop before my work became sloppy or I got irritated.  It worked out well, but is definitely a method that you have to plan ahead for.

Last, but not least, I made a decorative frame for the baby’s room. I wanted to give them something that would last for a while and not be outgrown for a few years.  My friend had mentioned that she was going to decorate the baby girl’s room in a beach/seashell theme.  Luckily, I had a lot of beachy things around the house that I was able to use for my last minute crafting. This project I did the night before flying out to see her. Using extra pearls from my wedding bouquet, I was able to make a cute beach-themed gift that will hopefully last a while…provided the hot glue does its job.

Along with the crafts, I included a mommy-pampering-care-kit of a few products that I particularly enjoy.  This may have been my favorite part because it was actually for my friend, not her baby.  No offense, baby E.