Home sewing baby clothesSewing a Knitcloth - DIY guide for meaningful baby toys

Sewing a Knitcloth - DIY guide for meaningful baby toys

  • material selection
    • Amount of material and the pattern
  • Sew the knit cloth
  • variations

The Knistertuch is one of the most popular baby toys. By grasping and kneading the little cloth, babies can get to know their haptic and audiovisual skills better. In this tutorial, we show you how to sew such a star cloth - very simply, quickly and individually.

Today I would like to deal with the baby topic again. Such an exciting time will never come for the little ones again. Everything is new! They see, hear, smell, taste and feel so much for the first time. To attack, there are countless materials that all feel different. They can be soft or rough, smooth or uneven, moist or dry, and even feel warm or cold. Some are also sticky. And especially on the subject of haptics you can start with many nice games that can be quickly and easily made yourself. Such as a "label-cloth", on which quite simply a lot of different labels are attached (I do not know, why such a thing is particularly exciting for the dwarfs) or just a knist cloth, as I would like to describe it today.

So that the sense of sight does not come too short, the various design options in terms of colors, shapes and motifs are another plus. Whether you stick to the rainbow colors, use your own favorite color or make the knitted cloth to match the rest of the baby equipment is up to you. For example, the owl motif continues to be attractive, and even giraffes, foxes and bears have been playing in the cots of our little darlings in all sorts of colors and shapes for decades.

Even knit cloths can be perfectly personalized and passed as special gifts. What to pay attention to, I'll tell you later in detail.

Knit cloths are made quickly and easily and I personally think it's good when I know what's in such utensils. Especially with our little ones, we are very meticulous in such points and prefer to ask extra. That's why I've taken care in these instructions to treat these points in detail.

Difficulty level 1/5
(suitable for beginners)
Material costs 2/5
(depending on the choice of fabric between EUR 0, - from the remaining utilization and EUR 40, -)
Time required 1.5 / 5
(including pattern about 1-3 hours depending on the variant)

material selection

The choice of materials is a very important issue with Knistertuchern, since the babies not only touch them, but they also like to put in the mouth and rumknabbern it. Therefore, you should make sure that your materials are harmless when choosing fabrics.

For the cloth itself I take in this case 100% cotton according to ÖKOTEX 100 - standard. For the "filling", our crackling material, a simple frying tube has proved to be the best. This is not only food safe, but also washable and extremely heat resistant - so it can be easily ironed in the fabric. Such a Bratschlauch you get in the well-stocked supermarket in 3m pieces, because you come from a long time and can make many knitted cloths.

Of course you can also use stretchy fabrics. Just remember to reinforce them accordingly. Basically I recommend for knitted cloths but not stretchy, soft fabrics.

Especially if you want to sew matching the rest of the baby equipment, you can use this raffia cloth to perfectly process your leftovers!

Amount of material and the pattern

You need enough fabric to cut one top and one bottom. Knit cloths are usually square and not very big.

For my smaller squares I used a trivet as a template, for the rounds a dessert plate. You can design both sides from the same or from different materials. I chose different patterns in the same color.

When cutting two layers of fabric can be cut on top of each other - so you immediately have a front and back that fit together.

Likewise cut the frying tube in the appropriate size.

Tip: I cut the frying tube slightly larger, because it can easily slip when sewing and then perhaps a millimeter is missing.

Remember that you still have to deduct about 2cm of seam allowance each in length and width to be able to estimate the final size.

Tip: Never use your scissors to cut other materials! As a result, the blades are dull and the scissors can no longer cut fabrics well.

Sew the knit cloth

First and foremost, it will be done once again. You can do this either with your overlock machine or with a simple, long zig-zag stitch of your sewing machine. If you've cut several knitted cloths at once, that's the boring part. But it's worth it because the fabrics can not fray when sewing so later and your towels will last longer.

Now place your top and bottom sides right to right (ie the beautiful sides to each other) on each other, put the cut frying tube on it and stick these three layers along the edge with pins. For larger towels, you may like to use several pins, then sewing will be easier later.

Tip: When sewing, make sure that the side with the frying tube is in front of you. The slider of your sewing machine may have difficulty moving the film.

Now sew all around with 0.7-1cm distance to the edge with a simple straight stitch all three layers together. Remember to leave a turnaround open. Please always sew the beginning and end well! Here should be enough about 4cm. Of course, if your workpiece is larger, you will also need a larger turning orifice.

Tip: For partially round cuts, it is advisable to save the turning opening on a straight side, as it can be closed in retrospect simpler and more beautiful.

If you make a knitted cloth with corners, sew to the respective corner, leave the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot, rotate your workpiece by 90 °, lower the presser foot and continue sewing.

Tip: Ideally, you do not place the turning opening at a corner but on a straight side, so it is nice to close later.

Now you can adjust the edges and corners of the frying tube to the remaining seam allowances. For knitted cloths with corners, these can be shortened in the seam allowance, so that they are easier to shape after turning.

Now use the knit cloth carefully and be careful on all edges and corners. The frying tube is perforated by the suture and can therefore easily tear off at the suture, then it does not stay in shape nicely. After turning, lay the edges of the seam opening as evenly as possible and iron everything firmly.

And done!

Now you quilt around again with a simple straight stitch and your knitted cloth is ready!

variations

Of course you can let off steam in every way! For your knitcloth, you can easily make plain or tricot fabric, make a mini patchwork, sew together different strips of fabric, apply different patterns, and / or embroider (doing so after the end of sewing but before sewing). Applications are also suitable for such a project.

From plotted motives and other iron-on decorations I would personally rather refrain, as could eventually solve something and thus get into the mouth of the baby. Even with fabric paints, they should pay attention to the quality and ingredients. These can also run and be washed out in the washing machine, so I would advise against stains.

Instead of the simple stitching in the final step, you can, for example, also use the decorative stitches of your sewing machine and thus give your knitted cloth a personal touch.

Another option, especially if you do not have a nice child motive on hand, is a monochrome fabric (ideally white or black), which you then stitch with different colors several times. For example, in rainbow colors 6 stitches next to each other (red - orange - yellow - green - blue - purple).

Tip: Remember to always use the bobbin thread in the corresponding color! The outer stitching is visible on both sides!

Such a knitted cloth looks particularly colorful and bright, especially because of the monotonous source material. With this technique you can with a little patience and skill also "sewing", so with your sewing machine a beautiful motif in the cloth. This can be done either before or after the sewing of the individual layers, depending on whether the motif should be visible on both sides or not.

Tip: When sewing the design to completion, ideally sew a specimen and check the seam pattern on the underside to make the design beautiful on both sides.

As already described in my instructions for the playmat, you can also sew your knitcloth directly onto such a blanket or attach it using snaps. You can also sew a loop on the knitcloth in the turn-around opening so that you can hang it on a game sheet, on a car handle or directly on the baby seat or stroller. It is best to sew several towels and distribute them in the baby's favorite places so that they can always play with them.

Quick Guide:

1. Select fabrics, finish, design outer fabric as desired
2. Cut and stack fabrics (top and bottom fabric right to right, top of frying tube)
3. Firmly pin all layers and then sew them all together with seam allowance, avoid turning opening
4. If necessary, adjust seam allowances (frying tube), chamfer corners
5. Turn through the turning opening
6. Ironing
7. Stitch all around - done!

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