How to Make a Ribbon Burp Cloth Set

I've been quite busy sewing lately, as our stock got quite low this last month as we waited for back-ordered cloth diapers to come in. I thankfully have several excellent ladies who sew for me from home and they've done an excellent job at getting us caught up. But in those first few weeks of craziness when our cloth diapers came in, I found myself quite often at my own sewing machine making ribbon burp cloths. Since it was nice and handy, I decided to take some pictures during the process.

This tutorial will work for any ribbon style burp cloth. In the pictures you will see our current best-seller, the blue retro dot burp cloth set.

Items you will need:

• two cloth diapers (we use Osocozy chinese prefold diapers because they have white edging thread and come in 4x6x4 layering, which is good for extra-absorbancy)
• two grosgrain ribbons in coordinating prints, lenth about 1" longer than the width of the burp cloth
• thread to match ribbons
• ruler or quilter's ruler

To begin, you will line up your ribbon on the burp cloth. Make sure you are using the front of the burp cloth. Ours have a lipped seam on one side of the middle section, that is the back. If you can't tell the difference, then it won't matter which side you use. Lay your burp cloth out flat. It should be noted that we prewash our diapers before using them. This makes it a little more difficult to sew on, because of the quilting that occurs as the cloth shrinks, but I think this is much more acceptable than having the diaper shrink after we've attached the ribbon. Ignore the quilting, and just try to get the short end of the diaper to lay straight. Use a quilter's ruler or some other ruler to measure up 2" from the edge of the diaper. Lay your ribbon along that line and use pins to hold in place. Repeat with other burp cloth and ribbon.

Thread your machine with the matching thread for the ribbon you will sew first. I use white on my bobbin thread so it will blend in with the white of the diaper. Fold under the edge of your ribbon so that it is flush with the edge of the diaper. If there is too much extra ribbon, trim a little off first. You should have 1/4" - 1/2" to turn under. Make sure to hold the ribbon firmly as you place it under the sewing machine foot. You want to make sure the ribbon folds under straight, so that no corners peak out. Once you get it placed right, begin sewing the long edge of the ribbon. On grosgrain ribbon, there is a little lip along the edge, and I find it works well to sew my seam dirctly next to that little lip. It keeps my line straight with very little effort. As you sew, don't let your machine stretch out the diaper too much, use your hands to work the quilted ridges under the foot.

Stop sewing about an inch and a half away from the other edge of the diaper. Fold this end of the ribbon under just as you did the first end. Sometimes the pressure of the foot stretches out the part of the diaper you sewed further than the rest and this looks a little awkward when you are done. If this is the case, to fix it, just push back the edge of the burp cloth (letting the quilting make little gathered ridges) until it is straight and turn under your ribbon flush against this edge. Then holding carefully as you sew, make sure the machine takes up this extra as it sews to the end. When you reach the end, stop with your needle in the corner of the ribbon, lift the foot and turn so you are parallel to the short end of the ribbon. Sew down this folded end to secure the edge, and then turn again at the next corner. Continue sewing the other length of the ribbon, making sure to push in extra fabric as needed to keep the diaper from stretching. Finish by securing the other short end just as you did before and tie off.

Repeat the sewing steps on your second diaper, changing thread color if needed. And that's it! Your burp cloth set is finished and ready for embroidery. We like to embroider just above the ribbon, which makes the set look nice whether it's folded or open.

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