Love, Laura Lee: life will be changing! {travel changing pad tutorial}

With two grandbabies due in early June, what is a Lollee to do?

Why, buy cute fabric and start stitching, that's what!

I had an idea for making a couple travel-sized changing pads that would fit neatly into diaper bags. I wanted them to be washable, but most importantly, wipeable, for after those messy changes that inevitably occur when you're far from home. My first thought was to order some of that adorable laminated cotton that I'm seeing all over the internet. Cute prints abound, but the price is steeper than I want to pay, around $12 or $13 per yard. So for the wipeable surface, I went with another idea--flannel-backed vinyl for tablecloths.

At Joann's there were not many choices of color, other than white, which seemed completely impractical for obvious reasons. The only color that remotely worked for babies was a fern green. I purchased a 1/2 yard of that, at 52 inches wide, which would back two changing pads.

Then I ventured off to the nursery prints aisle to find something suitably boyish for Jeremiah (Brad and Hannah's baby) and girlish for Ellee (Jonathan and Abby's baby). Hannah had told me that she's thinking of using a Noah's Ark theme. She may or may not go with that, but I couldn't resist the adorable "All Aboard" animal print. Abby said she just wanted sweet, cottage-y, and girlie. I couldn't pass by this sweet pastel safari fabric for Ellee, who will be born in Africa.

I decided to do a tutorial on how I made these. Mine are a little different from the ones I've seen online, so I figured, why not? You can buy yardage or fat quarters to use for the outer fabric.

{I'm just going to warn you-- working with vinyl is not like working with cotton. That is why quilts and heirloom baby garments are made from high quality cottons, not cheap flannel-backed vinyl. It is difficult to be a perfectionist when working with vinyl. Just do the best you can and don't worry if your seams aren't perfect. This isn't an heirloom. It IS practical and wipeable, though! These can be washed in the washer, but should be air dried.}

Travel Baby Changing Pad Tutorial

What you need:

approximately 15 X 22" piece of print fabric for the outside
approximately 15 X 22" piece of flannel-backed vinyl
same size piece of polyester batting to go between the layers
about 2" long piece of sew-in velcro
basting spray (optional)

Trim all your fabrics (including batting) to the size you want. Really the size is up to you. I was striving to make mine fit out of 1/2 yard cuts of printed fabric and still have some left over to make coordinating bibs, etc.

Spray basting the batting to the flannel side of the vinyl works really well to keep it all together.

Layer the batting, then the vinyl (right side up), then the print fabric (right side down)

Pin through all the layers in the seam allowance. You don't want to make unnecessary holes in the vinyl, so pin parallel to the edge of the fabric.

Don't forget to round the corners like I almost did.

Stitch through all the layers, leaving about 4" open for turning.

Carefully turn...

...and press with a warm (NOT HOT) iron.

Topstitching around the whole pad gives it a nice finish and serves the purpose of sewing the opening closed.

Now lay the pad out and fold it where you like. I wanted mine to fold in thirds lengthwise, then fold in quarters the other way. I folded it first to get an idea where to mark.

DISCLAIMER!

I used a Vis-A-Vis marker. You DO NOT want to do that!!! I thought the wash-off marker was a good idea but it bled to the white side when I applied a damp cloth to remove the marks. The marker washed out, no problem, but you don't want to make that mistake. Exactly how you should mark it, I don't know. Maybe a fade away pen would work. I'm not sure.

Now it's going to fold the other way, both ends toward the center. I left a little space in the center so it will lay flat when folded.

Here are all the marks. It really isn't rocket science. It's pretty difficult to mess this up.

While you're marking your lines, go ahead and pin your velcro down, so you can do all the rest of the sewing on one trip to the machine. I just pinned to the printed fabric and not through the vinyl.

Now sew on all those lines, from edge to edge. This is where you apply what you learned about not being a perfectionist on this project. The vinyl is likely to slip a little as you sew. It's ok. Mine did, too.