Burp Cloth Tutorial

Welcome! Today I'd like to show you a quick and dirty clean tutorial for baby burp cloths. Some babies are just ickier that others. I believe the polite term for a spitty, grouchy hell-raiser like my first child is "colicky". Anyhow, my sister-in-law has a sweet baby with the same inclination to make you feel like you should wear a rain poncho indoors. I decided to make her a practical gift to accompany the many loads of outgrown things I can KonMari her way. Handmade burp cloths are just the ticket.
I purchased Room Essentials hand towels from Target, and pulled fabric from my collection. (Calling it a stash or accumulation feels less validating. 😉)

I placed the towels on an opened yard of fabric as shown on this very rough drawing. 

Then I cut around the towels leaving some wiggle room, in terms of fabric excess, in case the towels shifted as I sewed them. I spray the fabric with Best Press in a continuous mist bottle before pressing. I used the Oliso Mini Project Iron to press my fabrics. I received mine from the company to review. It is a beautiful compact iron, complete with steam. Fresh out of the box, I feared the steam didn't work, but after priming it a few times (aka to a soap bottle) it did function.

The grip is a bit uncustomary, as you direct the motion mostly with the inside of your palm, instead of wrapping your fingers around a typical handle. The iron capable of reaching high heat, so much so, that it can be warm to the touch where your fingers rest. The company recommends using a lower setting in this case. Rather than having extending feet like the full-size Oliso, this model rests on a trivet. Bear in mind that while the trivet protects your work surface, it does absorb heat and needs to cooled before being touched. Conveniently, the iron tucks into the trivet for storage. The cord can be wound around the trivet, which contains a hole that can be hung at a safe height (which is pertinent with littles around).

I pin around the edge and stitch around the perimeter (about 1/2" from the edge of the towel), leaving a 6" gap in the middle of a long side for turning.

Then, I carefully trim the excess fabric even with the towel without clipping a chunk out of the towel (most of the time 😊). Here are my beauties --- the navy Olfa Splash and the coordinating large mat!

Then I do the Flip-O (certainly a technical term, hence the capitalization).

Next comes pinning the gap.

Topstitching 1/4" from edge around the entire perimeter will resolve the opening and give the piece a finished look.

Easy peasy!