All.Things.Sewing. Stuffed blocks for baby!

Whenever i see a cute new design or pattern for something to make, i always start trying to think of who can i make it for as a gift. Kind of like i need an excuse (& motivation) to make it. Well, these stuffed blocks are perfect little gifts for babies, baby showers or even for your own kiddos! They are one of the first things i made when i started sewing – which considering i hadn’t had a single sewing lesson ever, should tell you that they are pretty easy to make. The best part is that instead of having to cut your own fabric, you can use charms packs! I had no idea what that was when i first read the blog post about these cubes, so for all you newbies out there, charms packs are little packs of fabric already cut to 5×5 inches, ready to sew! So they are perfect for a project like this!  You can also find them in all different patterns and designs.  Well, regardless, what you see below is a mixture of fabrics that I cut and put together for these cubes.  I then used regular felt from arts stores to ct out and sew on the letters or other cute appliques for the cubes.  I also had a plastic, textured shelf liner from Ikea that I cut and put on the outside of one of the layers so that there would be something itneresting for her to touch.

Sewing them is pretty easy.  I will explaing it VERY briefy here, but the blog article that I followed to make them is at the “whipstitch blog”

Basically you first sew 4 sides together, with right sides facing together (that is the easiest part).  Then you sew the top and bottom on.  The corners are the trickiest part, and basically what I did was get to the corner, then lift the pressor foot with the needle still in the fabric, and twist the layers of fabric so I could go in another direction without twisting the fabric into the seam.  Worked pretty well!  And then the last small seam I sewed by hand after putting in the stuffing.  I also  put little rattles into the cubes by finding something small and hard, putting some jingle bells or rice or lentils into it, and sticking it in the middle of the cube.  That extra sound goes a long way with the kids!