Quick and Easy DIY Gauze Swaddle and Headbands! Perfect Gift!

So we all know Rockerbye has some of the best double gauze out there! Amazing colors, super soft, and so versatile!  In past blogs I've given tons of ideas on what to make with your gauze but sometimes you get invited to a last-minute baby shower, or you are super pregnant expecting a baby any day and just want something easy but adorable for your little one (aka me).  So today I'm bringing you the fast and easy DIY Swaddle and Bow Blog!   All you need is one yard of double gauze and you've got yourself an adorable little set for all the squishy babies in your life! 

Let's start with the swaddle.  This is super easy but honestly, sometimes it's nice to follow directions especially if you are newer to sewing!   I chose to make these all prior to washing for ease of sewing.  Now with only a yard, if you are doing a square swaddle you are pretty limited to your yard size of a 36x36 swaddle.  Plenty big enough but if you'd prefer something closer to the popular A&A blankets you'll want to get more than one yard.  Amber is amazing and almost always cuts large for shrinkage so I grabbed my gauze and cut a 38x38 inch square. (If you are doing this at home watch out for potential slime and cars) 

Easy as pie! Now to hem! There are a few ways you can hem, you can do a rolled hem, simply serge the edges, serge-fold over and topstitch, or double fold over and topstitch.   I choose the last one since my serger was on black. For this, you'll head over to your trusty iron and fold up your hem anywhere from 1/8inch to 1/4 inch and press. 

Do this all along one side and then flip that hem up over itself and press again enclosing your raw edges. 

Now repeat with your other 3 sides and you'll end up with something like this ready for topstitching! 

If you end up with any overlap from slightly wonky cutting I just clipped them off as I folded the corners in anyways. 

Now you are ready to topstitch. Generally, you hear about a walking foot for knits but I honestly use mine for everything! It's so helpful in guiding especially when you are wanting to edge stitch.   First I started by folding my corner in and stitching from the inside out and then back to the inside.  From there, stitch as close to the end of your hem as possible all the way until you reach your next corner and repeat until you meet your first corner.   

Guess what!  You are done!  So fast and the perfect gift. The best part about this type of swaddle is that if your baby ends up hating being swaddled (or when they grow out of their swaddling stage) they still have an awesome cozy blanket.  My four year old has to have his "blankets" to sleep with that we used to swaddle him with as a baby.   Of course, you can always repurpose the fabric since it's such a big cut as an option as well!

Now every swaddle needs a matching bow for all those sweet little girls (or boys).  I chose to do two styles because well, you can never have too many bows!   The first knot style headband I used was the Free Trixie headband from Made for Mermaids!  All you have to do is sign up for their newsletter. (It even comes in adult size)  I'll be honest I almost didn't make it as I saw elastic and thought it was going to be too complicated but it's actually a really quick simple sew and sooooo cute!! I can't wait to make more of them.  It's so hard to find good woven headband patterns but this fit the bill!  

*Tip for both headbands-  I chose not to use any interfacing but if you are uncomfortable with the fraying fabric or want something with a little more structure I'd recommend interfacing all your pieces with a lightweight interfacing. *

 

For the second headband, I did my own little thing. First, you need a rectangle,   essentially you can choose whatever size you'd like.  I cut a 4x11-inch rectangle for the main bow and a 2x3.5 inch rectangle for the center. 

 

Take your main bow piece (add interfacing if you'd like) and fold it in half right sides together and press.   From here you'll sew all the way around except you'll leave a small hole in the center bottom to turn it right side out (don't forget to backstitch at your gaps). 

I then clipped my corners and around the excess with my pinking sheers for better points but it's not necessary. Now turn it right side out, press flat, and you can either hand stitch the hole closed or I usually just stitch really close to the edge with my machine as most of it's covered by the center piece anyways. 

Next, run two basting stitches side by side down the center of your bow.  I usually set my stitch length to 5 which is the longest on my machine. 

Tie the top strings off and pull from the bottom to gather your bow and set aside.   Next, grab your centerpiece and fold it right sides together hot dog style and stitch down one side.  Then turn it right sides out with the seam going down the center. 

Now for the fun part-  Pick your headband color! There are a few options for a headband.  You can either cut your own cotton lycra one, grab a pair of nylons you have and simply cut a one-inch wide slice from the upper leg, or if you are lazy one want a lot of color options like me, you can buy some and choose from those! I grabbed these from Amazon for a great price as I anticipate there being a lot of bows in my future! (they fit baby to toddler)  I've also cut them in half for a thinner headband too!

Once you've decided on your headband lay your bow center down first right side up, your bow on top of it (right sides together), and then finally your headband on top of that.  Grab the ends of your bow center and wrap them around your bow and your headband.   You can either hand stitch it closed or take it to your machine and stitch as close to the headband as you can get. 

 

Once you have it stitched together trim off extra seam allowance with pinking shears or your serger and then flip your bow center around hiding the seams. 

Your bow is done! Adjust your bow and center how you like it to look. Then for good measure, I always grab my handy hot glue gun and put a few good shots of hot glue in between the bow center and headband and bow to keep it all together nice and pretty.   

Now you are ready to try it all on your baby! If you are like me and still waiting on your baby- grab your favorite close to baby sized stuffie for an adorable little modeling show!

I even have this great scrap left that could easily be made into a bunny love, mini satin bound lovey, wash cloth, you name it!  Whatever you want to finish your set.  I'm going to hold on to mine to see if baby girl attaches more to the bunny lovies or the satin bound lovies and then add it to her set. 

Hopefully, this helped some of you out especially the newer seamstresses.  I can't wait to see all your little gauze sets start popping up and don't forget to share in the group!

Happy Sewing and Rocking!

Michelle

P.S.  Stay tuned for actually updated baby photos! ;)