A baby’s arrival in the family is very special, and there are many things to keep in mind, especially if it’s your first baby. We don’t want to forget anything.
So we search online, and we’re given thousands of baby registry lists with many items, all of them supposedly necessary.
At some point, we get stressed out. We want the best for our babies, and if you’re having trouble deciding, you can feel overwhelmed. I still remember one morning (8 years ago) browsing social media looking for the best stroller. I wanted it to have everything people said I needed, and I spent ages searching through opinions in forums.
We can end up feeling stressed by everything we’re told we have to buy, the thousands of baby registry lists, and all the advice everyone gives us—whether we ask for it or not. Your mind just won’t stop.
If you’re feeling this way right now, take a breath. You are going to get to everything, yes, and you’re going to do a great job. The main thing your baby is going to need is your love, and you have plenty of that.
I’m not here to make a list of what you’ll need, but I am here with a few little projects you might enjoy sewing for yourself and your baby.
These tutorials I recommend are for the baby’s arrival, so you can prepare your hospital bag and cross off some of the items from the other list you were probably given of what you need to bring.
1. The weekend bag. (Lulu Ferris)
For the hospital, you’ll need a bag to hold your things as well as the baby’s. This one is perfect for carrying everything they ask you to bring, and it’s weekend-bag size. The great thing about this bag is that you’ll be able to use it on many other occasions afterward.
Oh, fabric bags! You’re always going to need one during your little one’s first few years. Whether it’s for a change of clothes at the hospital, a snack for school, a spare change of clothes, or storing their toys. We always end up using them. But since we’re talking about the hospital in this post, let’s give it its first use.
As I was saying, they normally ask you to bring 5 changes of clothes for the baby to the hospital—depending on the hospital—one for each day (in case you end up having a C-section), plus extras (which I do recommend), including extra onesies and an outfit or two.
In my case, they asked me to label the bag with the little one’s full name, and I also added the day I wanted to put that outfit on them: first day, second day... etc.
To be honest, I did it with plastic freezer bags and wrote on them with a permanent marker... yes, yes, me—the person who spends all day sewing... the shoemaker’s children go barefoot.
But that’s what I had, so if you want to make them with fabric (prettier, more durable, and more eco-friendly), here’s the tutorial.
To label them with the name and day, you can make tags from kraft-tex or cardstock with a little string and tie them with a knot to the cord/bias binding used to close the bag. Once you leave the hospital, you can remove the tag and have multipurpose bags—for example, to always carry a change of clothes in your maternity bag.
3. Hat (Lulu Ferris) and mittens (YouTube)
A must-have in the hospital bag: the little hat so they don’t lose heat through their little heads, and mittens so they don’t scratch their faces with the tiny, sharp fingernails they’re born with, which are too soft to trim.
This little hat we made is very cute because it has little knots on the sides, but if you prefer something more classic, you can modify the pattern and make it round, or even remove the knots and add little ears like the ones in the tutorial for the zip-up romper.
The mittens are simple and soft. You can make them with knit fabric or a minky-style fabric, with elastic/knit cuffs so they have a little more trouble taking them off.
4. Baby toiletry bag with waterproof lining
For storing lots of things: nail clippers, gel, diaper cream, a sponge, gauze for the umbilical cord (or have they changed that again?), a comb, all the samples they’ve given you...
Designed especially for the baby, whether for the hospital or when you go out for a walk, it has a waterproof lining that’s very practical if the clothes get wet (pee-poop-spit-up) and you need to store them without getting everything else in the maternity bag wet.
And that’s it for some of the tutorials that might come in handy. We have more—quite a few more—but I don’t want to overwhelm you either :)
If you liked this post and would like me to make a second or third part, or if you’ve made any of these projects... write whatever you like in the comments. I’d be delighted to make parts two and three!
Happy Sewing!