Everyone tells you that each pregnancy and child is different from the last. And, like most pregnant people who hear all kinds of “wisdom” and advice from everyone they encounter, I just listened, nodded and went on my way. The thing is, it’s absolutely true!
In my experience my son was easy-going, quiet, calm and ate and slept very well. My daughter on the other hand showed signs of rambunctiousness (if that’s even a word) as soon as she could start really kicking around. So far she is the polar opposite of my son and I guess I just wouldn’t have it any other way. Except for in one area…spitting up.
I know from experience that the smells your child emits are sometimes ghastly, but usually you get used to them and can handle the clean up when necessary. It’s the smells that come from other children that cannot be erased from memory and inflict an immediate gage reaction. However, for me, baby spit up falls into the latter category. No matter who it comes from I find it to have the worst smell on the planet and have changed my clothes and washed several times just to ensure that smell does not linger anywhere on my person. blech!
My son spit up a total of maybe 5 times over the course of his first year. Maybe five…I’m not even sure it was that many times. So, when the second little one arrived with the ability to projectile vomit from the top of a flight of stairs all the way to the bottom I was both in awe and horrified! I learned pretty quickly to have a burp cloth on hand, or shoulder, at all times, but with the ferocity and regularity of the spitting up I was running out of clean ones constantly. I would end up pulling hand towels out of the linen closet in a pinch and decided I really liked the fuller coverage they provided.
So, after finding a stack of 12 white hand towels at Sam’s Club for next to nothing I decided to whip up the perfect burp cloth for our predicament. It also gave me an excuse to use some of my favorite reproduction vintage fabrics from my stash.

This project involved adding a strip of fabric down the center of the hand towels to give them a little charm and make them more than just a hand towel draped over my shoulder. I cut and pieced some of the fabrics I wanted to use to make them work, but you would just need to measure your towels and decide how much of the center you want to cover with a cute fabric. I cut my pieces, pinned them in place with the edges turned under and then ran a straight stitch all the way around the top edge to secure them in place.

It was all really that simple.

I have loved using these with my little burper and already gave a pile to my sister-in-law with the twins. Now I’m thinking my friends that just delivered might like some too.? Better go dig up some more fun fabrics.
Erika