Burp Pads and Silkies

by Lois Breneman - 2003 - Heart to Heart

Burp Pads
Recently I made two different styles of burp pads for my grandson.  One was black and white with tiny dots of red, since infants’ eyes nearly bug out of their heads at those colors.  Justin didn’t disappoint us either! 
The other pattern was a T-shirt knit fabric of brown Scooby-Doo’s on a white background, and he really loved that pattern too!  The key is to use contrasting colors, especially white with very dark colors.  Terry cloth or another soft white fabric makes a good backing.  Use the bright side to stimulate and the other side when you are trying to put him to sleep!  We entertained Justin for an hour with these while waiting to eat out one evening at the beach.

To make burp pads, cut according to the ones bought in a store – sizes and shapes vary.  I like to have rounded corners to make the sewing continuous.  Place wrong sides of fabrics together and cut the two fabrics together, pin, and sew bias binding around the edge.  Turn the binding to the back and hand sew a blind stitch with hand quilting thread.  The hand sewing can be done while talking with your children, watching TV or riding in the car.  I made a dozen pads to hand stitch when I get the opportunity and plan to use most of them as gifts. 

An even more simple way to make burp pads is to sew them with right sides together.  Sew around the edge with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving enough length for turning.  Turn right side out, press, hand sew the opening shut, and topstitch around the edge.

These cloths are soft and I can see a baby latching onto these as a “security blanket” too, which is far better than dragging a large, dirty blanket around.  Justin enjoyed holding his burp pads to his face.  You could have several identical pads handy, so they can be laundered often.  

 

Silkies
One-foot squares of nylon tricot can also be cut for latching onto (as security blankets), and one of our babies absolutely loved this idea!  He wasn't attached to a pacifier, but he certainly was attached to his "see'kos" as he called them!