Gauze Swaddle Blanket Tutorial

I love babies.

I don't want any more but I love when my friends have them.

And I am especially happy when close friends have one.

Staci welcomed in to the world, a beautiful baby girl.

Carly is so sweet and I was fortunate to have snuggle time

with this precious child, even fed her a bottle.

oh how i miss itty bitty babies...no more...convincing myself

Some back history...my triplets loved to be swaddled.

While on bed rest, I researched swaddle blankets.

And I researched some more.

Until I found Aden + Anais.

That was it.

I fell in love.

And boy, did those blankets work!
My kids stayed swaddled until they were 7 months old.

As I got in to sewing, I knew I could make my own.

Just didn't have the time.

I mean, who does with triplets?

But I wanted to hand dye them.

I haven't done any dyeing since I was a kid.

I found a great tutorial on MADE and went for it.

Dana also wrote up a good tutorial on how to made swaddling blankets.

{i loved the hearts so i followed suit & put them on carly's blankie}

Materials:

~ Gauze (aka - muslin in other countries)

Fabric.com has a great selection HERE.

~ Dye

~ Bucket (I picked mine up at the 99 Cent store)

~ Sewing machine & notions

Remember, I followed Dana's tutorial on how to dye

and this was my first time so it went ok, definitely far from perfect!

Before you get started with dyeing,

cut your gauze out so that the length of the gauze is

the same as the width of the gauze from selvage to selvage.

Mine measured out to be about 48" squared.

Fill your bucket with super hot, hot water.

That means as hot as you can get it out of the tap.

The amount of dye you pour in will determine how

saturated your color is.

I think I did 3 quarts and half a bottle of the dye.

Place gauze in to your bucket.

I used tongs to help get the gauze deep in to the dye water.

I mixed it around every 30 minutes and did so for about 4 hours.

{hubs is going to love me for using his tongs...oops}

I pulled out the gauze after all that time and rinsed it.

This took some time because you have to really try to rinse it

until the water is no longer coming out tinted.

Next step was to wash it.

I did a short cycle.

Once it was dried, I took it to the ironing board.

I pressed each side 1/2" and folded again another 1/2".

{i did only one side at a time}

I didn't do anything fancy for the corners either.

Time to top stitch!

Because I loved the hearts so much,

I had to add them.

Dana is brilliant when it comes to cool ideas!

I free handed a bunch of hearts from white gauze

and some fuchsia gauze (the other color I tried out).

I made them all different sizes.

After pinning each one in to place and pinned it,

I went to my sewing machine to stitch them in to place.

And here you have it!

Now, I told you the dyeing was far from perfect.

But I think I like it like that.

Makes it look worn and comfy.

{will try harder next time but for now it works}

Staci couldn't have been happier getting these

huge swaddling blankets because babies really can't break free.

The gauze is stretchy enough to make a nice, tight swaddle but

still breathable so that baby doesn't get hot.

That is important here in Houston.

Isn't she precious?
Carly...oh sweet Carly.

baby fever leave me alone

Enjoy your time swaddled my sweet one!

And please, don't forget to check out our awesome giveaway.

Skye Reve + {SIG}