One of my favorite things to do is make homemade items for my children, especially when they are babies. I wanted to show our readers how to make these Homemade Swaddling Blankets & Receiving Blankets. We will make these out of flannel material and use velcro to secure them in a swaddle so they can’t wiggle free. My son absolutely loved being swaddled, and it was one of the few ways we could get him to fall and stay asleep. He still loves to be held close when he falls asleep. However, he was quite the Houdini and could wiggle his way out of the world’s best swaddle. Using a little velcro on your swaddler will keep them asleep longer if they can’t “break free” so to speak.
I love searching through materials and supplies at my local fabric store, and while I’m not the world’s best seamstress, knowing I made the items myself makes them more sentimental. We have been discussing the possibly of having one more, and I recently wrote our post on The Ultimate Baby Registry Checklist. This is a picture of my son in his Summer Instant Swaddlers. However, these DIY swaddlers work as equally well. There are so many ways to save for baby, and this is one way you can save on making your own swaddlers and blankets.
In terms of just receiving blankets, I purchased the fabric on sale, and I only saved about $0.75 per blanket making them myself versus buying them in the store. However, when you convert these to Swaddling Blankets, you are saving a small fortune. I like my homemade swaddling blankets more than store bought for several reasons. First, they aren’t as hot, and are much nicer for summer months, and I don’t have to worry about baby becoming too hot. Second, I can make these with an adjustable velcro size, so they grow with my baby, versus the purchased swaddlers that you have to purchase for each size. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my son’s Summer Instant Swaddlers, but when money is tight, these homemade swaddlers are perfect and do the job.
How to Make Your Own Homemade Swaddling Blanket & Receiving Blankets
Supplies:
- 40×40 inch piece of Flannel fabric (or larger) with infant designs (make sure to purchase it on sale or with a coupon). As your child grows, you can make them with 1 1/2 and then 2 yards to grow with them as well. If your fabric does not form a perfect square, you can ask them to cut it into a square for you at the store.
- Velcro (You will need the long, strip kind, not the dots or squares. You can purchase iron on or the sew-on type, but I recommend sewing it on so it will last longer and not come apart as easily.
- sewing machine, or needle and thread. You can easily hand stitch these if you don’t have a sewing machine.
Directions:
- Create a 1/4 – 1/2 inch hem around all four sides of your blanket. This will create a nice receiving blanket, and this is where you would stop if you were just making a receiving blanket. You can also make small burp cloths using either a knit material or a cloth diaper material by cutting small pieces and hemming them. This will depend on the types of materials your fabric store carries.
2. While I’d love to be able to give you exact measurements, my best suggestion to make this correctly for your baby is to go ahead and swaddle him/her and place a safety pin in the locations where you will place your velcro. If you place your velcro strategically and horizontally, it would allow the swaddler to grow with baby. You would simply attach at a different spot on the velcro as he/she grows.
3. Secure velcro either through ironing it on, or hand stitching the velcro into place.
4. Make sure to test on baby again, and know that you made it with love and just saved some major money on this simple, quick project.
Leave a Reply