How to make handmade gifts (with simple patterns)

How to make a handmade gift for a newborn baby

Hi Creative Mamas! I am so excited to show you how you can make the most amazing gifts from the heart using simple patterns. When a baby is born, or a child has a birthday or a friend has a baby shower you may want to gift them something that is very special. Something that they will remember and treasure. This is a great baby shower gift!

I still have things that my grandma made for me thirty years ago and I treasure them so much. My kids still have pillows and throws in their bedrooms that were baby gifts when they were born. So, in this article I will show you how you can make a wonderful baby gift that will be treasured and adored by both baby and mom.

The thing is, I am a natural dyer and I dye a lot of wool yarn and a lot of fabric. I do it as preparation for my natural dyeing workshops but I also do it because I love it and it helps me connect with my surroundings. Natural dyeing is a great way to put old woolen blankets to good use, to recycle and upcycle old clothes and to create wonderful colors that come from what surrounds you every day.

In this article I will also show you how you can use your natural dyeing fabrics and yarns in the creation of a wonderful handmade gift using super simple patterns.

Handmade baby gift using simple patterns

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What is required to make a handmade gift?

• Love
• Love
• Love

Ok, what else? First you need an idea of what you want to express with your gift. If you are going to invest the time and energy in making a handmade gift, you probably will be wanting to express your love and commitment to the receiver of the gift. So, how can you express love?

• Using special scraps of fabric such as naturally dyed fabric scraps
• Using an old textile that means something to you or to the person who is receiving the gift
• Embroidering the person’s name or a little message into the gift
• Embarking in a slow sewing project that allows you time to think about the person receiving the gift

These are all fantastic strategies. But you need somewhere to start. My students are always telling me that they want to create stories in fabric, stitch memories and reflections but they don’t know where to start. They can’t draw and they can’t find the patterns that allows them to create different stories and gifts for their loved ones.

So I started sharing my simple patterns with my students so that they could also start making beautiful handmade gifts for their families. This has allowed them to have an easy starting point and then create from there.

Tutorial: Great baby shower gift!

Download your simple applique patterns

Step 1

Print out your Applique baby simple patterns. Cut around the shapes with paper scissors. Choose beautiful color threads, yarns and fabrics that you would love to work with. Make sure your needles are appropriate for the type of yarn, thread and fabric that you are using.

Step 2

Place your cut out shapes on top of your chosen fabric. For this project I have chosen an old woolen blanket that I dyed using Eucalyptus from my street and silk dyed from avocado (left over from my kitchen) and logwood.

You can learn about natural dyeing with avocado here

You can learn about the process of natural dyeing here

Step 3

Using your chosen yarn or embroidery thread start to embellish the separate components of the baby’s body. I have done a blanket stitch with french knots on top and a back stitch. Feel free to embellish as you please. this is a lovely part of the process in which you can indulge in some mindfulness slow sewing.

For this baby gift I have used naturally dyed yarn using dyers chamomille and madder. You can read about the different natural dyes here.

Check out “A Guide to Embroidery Stitches” to learn all about embroidery stitches for your handmade gift. 

Step 4

Embellish all different parts of the baby. Since I am using silk for the face, I placed it on top of a woolen layer and I did a running stitch to sew them together. It also added some nice texture to the piece. I used the purple logwood dyed silk as details all around the baby clothes and hat. I cut little pieces of it and sewed them one by one.

Step 5

Choose a nice backing fabric. Make sure its as thick as whatever fabric you are working with. So, if you are using wool it needs to be a similar weight to that. If you are using a lighter fabric you can choose a lighter option.  Place the baby on top and sew the baby (part by part) onto the backing fabric. I did this by using a whipstitch in a brown color so it was almost invisible.

I am planning to transform this fabric collage into a beautiful pillow for my friend’s baby nursery. It will be the most amazing handmade gift ever!!!!!! 

Different handmade gift ideas for baby shower gifts!

Baby pillow for the nursery

Check out this super easy step by step tutorial on how to transform this applique baby into the cutest baby pillow for the nursery.

Wall art for the nursery

I decided to make other baby shower gifts using the handmade baby and sewing it to a white background. I placed it in a fun frame that I made and voila! Perfect baby shower gift!

I also made some plushies and combined them with pom poms as another toy to hung in the nursery. All these were made out of naturally dyed wool and yarn. Check out the tutorial on how to make pom poms here and check out the full tutorial on how to make a plushie using upcycled fabric scraps here.

Make a fabric baby gift book

I have also made a fabric book as a baby gift. Check it out here! I used the exact same simple applique patterns.

Please let me know how you got on making your beautiful gifts from the heart! 

Download your simple applique patterns here and get started straight away!

Save this tutorial to your favorite Pinterest board!