diy baby shower gift: baby swaddler.

when it came down to the gift that i wanted to give amanda at her baby shower, i knew i wanted to make something. amanda is one who loves things handmade – you should see the beautiful cards she makes! – plus, i liked the idea of hand making something for the new baby (seems more personal).

this could be considered another pinspiration project because i found the idea from pinterest!

from the very little that i know about infants, i do know that swaddling is a way to help them feel like they are back in the womb. however, amanda & her husband are first-time parents & the process of swaddling a baby seems, well, difficult. a wailing infant with flailing arms & legs? no thank you.

so, why not a swaddler. an infant-sized sleeping bag that allows those arms & legs to be gently velcro-ed in. genius! {sidenote: i really hope this was a thoughtful present after all, meaning that i hope it really works!}

*update: the little babe i made this swaddler for was only about 7 pounds when she was born, so the size of this swaddler is too big. if you know how big the baby is, you can adjust the size accordingly.*

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{original tutorial: snuggler}

{sidenote: the gal’s blog who posted the original tutorial makes an amazing amount of things by hand. if you want some inspiration, definitely check out her blog!}

supplies:

  • pattern printed {updated link!}
  • instructions (attached to the pattern pdf)
  • 1 yard fabric – fun fabric for outside of swaddle (i used fabric from pacific fabrics)
  • 1 yard fabric – flannel or soft cotton fabric for inside swaddle (i got organic cotton flannel from this etsy seller)
  • pins
  • fabric scissors
  • fadeout marker (the type of marker that either has disappearing ink or disappears with water)
  • velcro
  • thread (i used white)
  • iron
  • sewing machine
  • ruler (i used it to help me transfer the dart pattern)

{sidenote: please excuse the bad lighting in the last set of photos. i was taking them in the evening without sunlight, so the color is funky. the real color of the green fabric is mint green & is best seen in the first part of the tutorial.}

this was the first time i made something from a pattern, so i was a bit nervous. plus, it was intended to be a gift to a crafty girlfriend who was expecting her first baby – no pressure! after my first read-thru (& second & third!) i found some of the instructions a little confusing. my remedy was to just go ahead & start, & i would work out the finer details as i came to them; turns out, this was a pretty good method!

first, print out, cut out & tape together the pattern (there are two main pieces). then iron your fabrics (after pre-washing them in hot or warm water to prevent later shrinking!).

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fold the printed fabric in half & pin the patterns to the wrong side of the fabric, lining up the folded edge to the inside of the pattern (there is a note on the pattern where it should line up with the folded edge). cut out the fabric along the pattern.

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before removing the pins, trace the dart pattern onto the wrong side of the fabric. i placed a pin at the top point of the dart triangle (so that i could lift the paper to expose the fabric) & then used a ruler to draw very faint dotted lines onto the fabric with my fadeout marker.

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the instructions also tell you to transfer dotted lines where the velcro strips will be placed. {sidenote: i did this, but in hindsight i think it is unnecessary. the velcro “placeholders” that i made were much bigger than the velcro i ended up using & so there was a lot of blotting with water to remove the ink from the fadeout marker. i think that once you are at the point where you add the velcro – later in the tutorial – you can look back to the pattern to determine where the velcro strips should be sewn on.}

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sew the darts into place. this was my first time sewing darts, but it is a fairly easy process. you basically fold the fabric in half (the middle dart line becomes the fold) & pin. then you run a seam towards the raw edge of the fabric. then you cut off the extra fabric.

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{darts completed on both fabrics. you can see the remaining ink lines here; i blotted the ink with a damp washcloth to make it disappear before i sewed the pieces together.}

repeat all above steps with the flannel fabric. then, you should have two identical pieces, one in printed fabric & the other in flannel fabric.

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then you place the flannel piece (inside out) into the fabric piece (inside out) & pin the pieces together. then attach the pieces by sewing around the half moon piece, as well as along the arm pieces, leaving a couple inches at the bottom of the left arm open (to flip the fabric). trim the seams.

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flip the swaddler right-side out. i used a chopstick (clean, of course!) to help turn the corners & edges.

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then hand sew the remainder of the edge shut.

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grab your velcro & lay out the pieces. cut three lengths of velcro (both pieces!) a couple of inches long. one piece goes on the front half-moon piece (middle picture) & two go on the outside left arm/inside right arm (far right picture). i sewed the rough piece of velcro to the front half-moon & also to the front side of the left arm; the soft velcro pieces are placed accordingly so that the velcro will properly close.

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{the final swaddler!}

what do you think of handmade baby shower presents? also, to my readers who have infants or kids, did you swaddle?

M

30 thoughts on “diy baby shower gift: baby swaddler.”

  1. Cute fabric!! I’m so impressed, I’m sure she will find this very useful! I didn’t think we’d ever stop swaddling Kenley, she slept so well when she was all snuggled up in that thing! — Anxiously waiting to see pics of the house! 🙂

    1. good to hear about swaddling. it was such a fun (and pretty easy) project to make, and if it works out for amanda, it will probably be my go-to baby shower gift.

      pictures of the house may or may not be up on the blog tomorrow… 🙂

  2. I sooooo love the swaddle and appreciate every moment you spent on it! Can’t wait to wrap Baby Girl in alphabet animal love!

  3. I was wondering if you would be willing to send me the PDF pattern. When I go to the link you provided it says the file is damaged and can not be repaired. I would love to make this for my daughter who is having her 3rd baby. I tried leaving a reply earlier and I don’t think it worked. :>( My e-mail is oneachord@roadrunner.com. I also tried leaving a comment/message thru Pinterest on this pin.

    1. Christine – I always find piecing together patterns to be a challenge. As I recall it took me a few times to get this one right. My advice would be to use lots of pins! Thanks for reading! M

  4. Can you tell me the measurements for your pattern. I found the same pattern and printed it, then cut it but I really think there is something wrong with mine. the oval front for example is only about 10″ W X 11.75″ H. The piece with the velcro flaps is about 9″ W X 16.25″ H (not including flaps). Your help would be greatly appreciated.

  5. Hey Misha! I love that you have photos to follow. I printed this pattern out from Lotta Jansdotter’s book that she posted on Pinterest. I was able to match the pattern together by overlapping the letters or words on the individual pieces of paper. I held it all together with Blue Painter’s tape. Everything went according to directions until the end. I could not get the foot pocket to look right once I turned the whole thing right side out. I worked on those two seams for a couple of hours. They were trimmed, but it puckered too much, even after steaming. Is there a trick to sewing this seam? (I’ve been sewing for 50 years off and on) My swaddler came out cute and I know my daughter will love it. Thanks for the help.

    1. Alda, I am so glad this swaddler worked out! I remember those seams puckering and it took a lot of pinning and pulling to get it to look right in the end. I think I need to re-make this swaddler again so I can update the post with more details! Thanks for reading. M

    1. Hello Suzanna, I just actually updated the link above which should take you right to the PDF. Let me know if it doesn’t work for you and I can send it via email. Thanks for reading! M

  6. I was wonderinfg if the pouch is abit larger, when i pin it together it has abit of a hill dont know what else to call it

      1. Hi Misha, I was able to access the pattern using your update to the link. However, before printing it, are there any options I should use, like letter size or A4, fit to page, etc. Thank you in advance for your assistance. I want to get it right the first time as there are many pages to print.

      2. Hello! I honestly don’t remember if I did. But I will say that after having babies of my own, the pattern I used made a swaddle that was much too big for a newborn! I’m not a good enough seamstress to know how to update the pattern.

  7. You are so smart & really sweet to share this baby item. I, too, am having trouble printing out the pattern & instructions. Would really appreciate your emailing them to me. Thank you tons! This is a great idea. Want to make one for my friend who works at Publix. My email is pattym7@comcast.net

  8. I love this pattern! Once I printed and taped the pattern together, it was pretty easy to follow the instructions. This will definitely be my go-to pattern for a baby shower gift :). Thank you for sharing!

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