Burp Cloth Tutorial for the Beginner Sewist (2024)

With my friends having babies left and right, you didn’t think I would stop at the rhinestone and heat-transfer vinyl onesies, now, did you?

No siree, Bob! Time to bust out the sewing machine for some super cute, super easy burp cloths:

I have to credit my M.I.L. for inspiring me with this one (and she credits her friend, Robyn!). Last year, she made some burp cloths for expectant mothers, including my two sisters-in-law, so, I’ve gotten to see these babies in action (pun intended). These burp cloths are both cute and practical…now, that’s my kinda project!

Here’s a tutorial, so you, too, can make your own burp cloths. This is an ideal project for the beginner sewist. How do I know? Well, because I am one, silly!

Burp Cloth Tutorial for the Beginner Sewist

Step 1. Gather supplies. I purchased a ten-pack of prefold premium 6-ply cloth diapers with absorbent padding from Target, and some cotton fat quarters from Jo-Ann’s. The nice thing about using fat quarters (22″ x 18″) is that you won’t need to re-cut the length, and you don’t have to wait at the cutting counter for half of the day! I chose 7 different fabrics to work with; each fat quarter provides enough fabric for 3 burp cloths.

Step 2. Prewash, iron, and cut your fabric. I put both the cloth diapers and fat quarters in the washer and dryer to remove “road dirt” and to preshrink them. After ironing, I cut my fabric into strips that were 22″ long x 5 and 3/4″ wide. Don’t stress too much over perfect dimensions. We can fix that in the next step.

Step 3. Press your fabric using a cardboard template. Here’s a nifty trick I learned from Diary of a Quilter when she created her own burp cloths. I used a cereal box to create a template that was 4 and 3/4″ wide x 17″ long. The width is the most important dimension, and it’s okay if your length is longer than your cloth diaper. Using a template instead of a seam gauge will end up saving you loads of time when pressing. Just place your fabric down wrong side up, pop in your template, and press down 1/2″ on either side quickly and easily. Leave about 1 and 1/4″ from the top, and don’t worry about the bottom edge for now. Note: ironing cereal boxes smells like apples. Also note: I am not a leftie; I only play one ~~on TV~~ in tutorials.

Then, this is probably the trickiest part of the whole shebang, and it’s not that tricky really. I tried a lot of different methods for dealing with the top edge, and this one worked best for me. I simply folded about 1/4″ of fabric underneath, and then pressed the rest of the edge over the top of the template, creating a crisp, clean look.

Step 4. Pin your fabric to the cloth diaper. If you’re a perfectionist like I am, this step could drive you crazy because, I learned,not all cloth diapers are created equal. You’ll find wonky dimensions on each and every one! So, simply nest the pressed edge of your fabric over the middle of the cloth diaper, and center it as best you can the rest of the way down. Mine always ended up with around 4 inches on either side, give or take a quarter inch. And when the dimensions weren’t working out, I just trusted my eye. I pinned the fabric to the cloth diaper in three places on either side. Notice that my pins are facing down on the right side, up on the left, which makes for easy removal (something I figured out after my 5th attempt).

Step 5. Stitch across the top edge. Carefully turn the cloth to the backside and run a straight stitch across the top edge of the fabric. I used 2.5 stitch length, needle set to the left, and simply lined the left side of my presser foot up with the left side of the fabric and ran the stitch across. I started and stopped just before running off of the fabric onto the cloth and backstitched at both ends to secure the stitch.

Step 6. Stitch down the right edge and up the left edge of the fabric. After flipping my cloth back to the front, I used the ever-so-faint center line on my presser foot to line up the right edge of the fabric. You really want to get pretty close to the edge on this part, pulling out pins as you go. After backstitching at the bottom of the right edge, start a new stitch up the left side. This is great practice on sewing a straight (or in my case, straight-ish) line. You should now have the top, right, and left edges stitched up.

Step 7. Press the bottom edge. Cut off the excess fabric at the bottom so you end up with about 1 and 1/4″ remaining. You’re going to press the fabric the same way you did the top edge. You can probably guess what comes next….

Step 8. Stich across the bottom edge. Same as before. Then, press your seams, and….

…voila! You’ve created a super cute, super easy burp cloth. And you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can knock out a bunch more once you find your groove.

As I always say, if babies are going to spit up, they might as well spit up in style. Am I right, or am I right?

Now, I can pair a few of these puppies together with a rhinestone onesie for our friends, Adele and Tavie, expecting a baby girl this July.

And how about some gender-neutral burp cloths to go with a gender-neutral onesie?

Burp Cloth Tutorial for the Beginner Sewist (2024)

Burp Cloth Tutorial for the Beginner Sewist

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