DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial |Keeping it Real

Monday, November 21, 2016

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

I'm trying to get my Christmas sewing done in advance this year, and this weekend I finished the travel meal set for my cousin's baby girl. 

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

The set includes a little pouch with pockets for the baby cutlery, a place mat and a matching bib:

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Today I'll show you how to make the pouch and the placemat, and over the next few days I will post tutorials for the bib and the placemat. 

The pouch is actually easier to make than it is to explain the process here. Whenever possible I added images, which should be self-explanatory, but if you want to make one and still have questions, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment and I will try to help you to the best of my abilities. 

To make the pouch you will need:
  • the cutlery you will be using. I bought a set to add to the gift, but if you already have it, you'll just need it for measurements
  • fabric for the pouch. Exact measurements will depend on the size of your cutlery, so read on to get a better idea
  • batting
  • two pieces of matching ribbon
  • material for embellishment (optional). I used fabric yo-yos and fabric covered buttons

Step 1: Take measurements to make sure your cutlery fits in. I cut a piece of fabric 60 x 42 cm, folded it in half (so what you see below is 30 x 42 cm, with the fold at the bottom)...

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

...and then folded over again about 8 cm over to measure the pocket for the cutlery and the placemat.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Step 2: cut the batting. You will need a piece half the size of your fabric. Since my original fabric was 60 x 42 cm, my batting was sized 30 x 42 cm (the size of the folded fabric)

Step 3: Iron your fabric to mark the fold for the pockets, and also the middle of the fabric, where your pouch will fold over. This is not essential but will help you when sewing.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial




Step 4: Temporarily unfold the "pocket" and place batting in between the two layers of fabric, and then fold the pocket over in place again. 

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Step 5: Pin the fabric + batting in the middle (the marking you made when ironing) and then find the middle of your left side pocket and pin it too (just remember that the middle of the left side pocket is not necessarily the middle of the fabric, since you need to take the seam allowance into account - like the image below, your "middle" will be somewhat deviated towards the right side of the fabric). 

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Also, make sure you pin just the top fabric and the batting. The other layer of fabric (which will be the outside of the pouch) should not be pinned.

Note that I only had two pieces of cutlery and one placemat, so I only needed two pockets on one side and a larger one on the other. It you have additional pieces of cutlery, besides adjusting the measurements, you may also want to sew additional pockets.

Step 6: Sew the pockets. This means that you will unfold the unpinned layer of fabric and sew where you pinned, from the bottom to to the top of the pocket fold (joining everything together but the exterior fabric). Remove the pins after sewing.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Step 7: Put the pieces of ribbon in place. Center them on each side of the pouch, as shown below.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

Step 8: Place the part of the fabric you unfolded over the pocket side of the pouch, right sides together (basically you will be folding the fabric in the opposite direction as it was before), with the ribbon tucked in between. Pin all around. 

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial





Step 9: sew all around. You'll be sewing on three sides (because the bottom is folded) and you need to leave a small opening on one of the sides to turn inside out. After turning inside out, it should look like this:

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial




Step 10: close the opening and top stitch all around (all four sides, this time). Embellish as you wish (optional). I added three yo-yos and fabric covered buttons. 

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

And you're finished. Put the cutlery in place in the small pockets and add a placemat or a napkin to the larger pocket.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

I made a matching placemat to complete the set. Click here for that tutorial.

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial

DIY baby travel meal set - with tutorial


Happy Monday,

keeping it real, craft blog




Sandy's P.O.V.


10 comments:

  1. How lovely, Teresa! Great gift for a little girl (and her mum) 😊

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  2. What a sweet baby/parent gift! Its so pretty!

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  3. What a perfect gift for someone with a new baby! Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW's DIY party! Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. Thank you, and a happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

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  4. This is such a clever idea that would be a great gift for the new parents that I made you my Featured Blogger pick for this week's Over the Moon Link Party. Please come back between Sunday evening and Thursday evening and grab your Featured Blogger badge for your blog. Thanks so much for sharing your idea with us.

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  5. This is absolutely cute Teresa! You are talented :) Thank you for taking the time to share it at The Crafty Corner link party.

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