Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (2024)

BySarah Nenni-DaherUpdated:

This simple and easy baby burp cloth tutorial is perfect for the beginner sewing enthusiast and is wonderful to use up scraps. And let’s face it – new parents are going to need a TON of these things!

Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (1)

If you’ve never been pooped on, thrown up on, or discovered little fingers that contained a mysterious sludge that binds better than Gorilla Glue, you’re in for a treat. Having experienced all of the above, I must say that one can never, never, never have too many absorbent cloths handy.

RELATED READING: Make These Easy Lavender Sachets (Great for Kid’s Closets and Drawers)

What You'll Find On This Page

An Easy Baby Burp Cloth Tutorial

They are surprisingly simple to make because the only skills you need are scissoring and sewing a straight line. Um, more like sewing a straight-ish line in my case.

Step 1: Cut a rectangle 10×18 from baby-soft flannel (available at all craft and fabric stores) and a piece of terry cloth the same size. With these measurements, you will get 12 baby burp cloth gifts from a yard of fabric (1 yard of flannel, 1 yard of terry).

Step 2: Put the “right-sides” together and sew a half-inch seam around all sides (that just means leave a half inch between the edges of the fabric).

Leave about 2-inches unsewn so that you can turn the fabric.

Step 3: Once the fabric has been turned right-sides-out, tuck the opening under and sew a seam about 1/4 of an inch around the entire baby burp cloth.

If you want to gift them as I’ve done here, just download this printable and string it through a cotton or grosgrain ribbon.

Yield: 3 burp cloths

Easy Baby Burp Cloth Tutorial

Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (2)

This simple and easy baby burp cloth tutorial is perfect for the beginner sewing enthusiast and is wonderful to use up scraps. And let's face it - new parents are going to need a TON of these things!

Active Time20 minutes

Total Time20 minutes

DifficultyEasy

Estimated Cost$5

Materials

  • 10×18 from baby-soft flannel
  • 10×18 from terry cloth

Instructions

  1. Step 1: Cut a rectangle 10×18 from baby-soft flannel (available at all craft and fabric stores)and a piece of terry cloth the same size.With these measurements, you will get 12 baby burp cloth gifts from a yard of fabric (1 yard of flannel, 1 yard of terry).
  2. Step 2: Put the “right-sides” together and sew a half-inch seam around all sides (that just means leave a half inch between the edges of the fabric).
  3. Leave about 2-inches unsewn so that you can turn the fabric.
  4. Step 3: Once the fabric has been turned right-sides-out, tuck the opening under and sew a seam about 1/4 of an inch around the entire baby burp cloth.
  5. If you want to gift them as I’ve done here, justdownload this printable and string it through a cotton or grosgrain ribbon.

Notes

More fun and easy crafts at Ruffles and Rain Boots

Did you make this?

Please leave a comment or share a photo and tag me @rufflesandrain

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Variations of Handmade Burp Cloths: Sizes and Shapes

There are so many variations you can make: rectangular burp cloths, contoured burp cloths, rounded burp cloths, terry, chenille, flannel, cotton, sandpaper…

Okay, that last one was just to see if I’d lost you.

I made my gifts of the rectangle-variety because the ones we had that were contoured didn’t seem any better than the ones that weren’t. I figure the more surface area to catch the ‘grodyness,’ the better.

RELATED READING: Gift a Mom-to-Be These Amazing Lavender Sleep Masks

If You Want to Add an Applique

After I was halfway done with mine, I got a wild hair to find a tutorial to add an anchor applique.

If you’d like to add an applique to your baby burp cloth, cut a piece of flannel in a solid color to match your fabric.

Before sewing (the 2nd step listed above), hand-sew or slowly use your machine to sew it onto the flannel fabric.

Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (4)

Burp Cloth Tutorial (with a Quick Washcloth)

Oh, and I found this tutorialby Buttercream and a Sewing Machine for burp cloths with rounded corners if you’d like to make that style. It also contains a neat little trick for the rounded corners using something you are almost guaranteed to have in your cabinet.

Because I had some scraps of fabric left that were too small for my other gift, I included a small washcloth and tucked it between the burp cloths for gifting.

If you’ve never made one, cut two small square pieces of fabric, sew them right-sides together (with an opening for turning). Once turned, top stitch around the edge of each side, just as you do with the burp cloths.

I made a sweet little printable sentiment for each set of parents and strung it through a sewn ribbon tie for gifting.If you’d like to use one of the baby sentiment notes I created, I’ve included them here as a free printable. I printed mine out on photo paper to really give the image depth (it is sized for 4 x 6), cut slits each side, and threaded a ribbon through. I’ve removed our ‘signed names’ so that you can add your own. You can also click on the picture below to get the link.

Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (5)

Beginner Sewing Project: The Softest Burp Cloths (2024)

References

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