Baby shower gifts to make on an embroidery machine

By Julie on October 26th, 2019
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Baby shower gifts to make on your embroidery machine

These days, it’s not often that I get invited to a baby showers. My peers are (for the most part) done having babies. And I’m still too young to be a grandma. (Or at least I hope. ) Anyway, what this means is that I haven’t had much of a need to come up with baby shower gifts to make on an embroidery machine.

This weekend, however, I will actually be attending a baby shower. And fortunately it’s not one of those baby showers where a bunch of ladies sit around drinking tea and eating cake while they “ooooh” and “ahhhh” over diaper genies. This one’s an evening party with both guys and girls, and most importantly, they will be serving alcohol.

But the most important part to me is that it’s time to crank out some baby shower gifts using my embroidery machine. One of the great perks of owning an embroidery machine is having the ability to make some really unique and custom gifts for babies. And, your very thoughtful gift will likely cost a fraction of generic items off of a baby registry.

As I tried to recall all of the past baby gifts I’ve made using my embroidery machine, it dawned on me that others may be looking for some ideas as well. So here are a few of my favorite gifts to make with an embroidery machine for a baby shower.

1) In-the-hoop baby bibs

If you have ever been around a baby, you know how messy they can be. So, you can never have too many bibs. When my oldest was born, my sister made bibs from terry cloth, sewed some cute trim around the edges and embroidered a fancy initial on top. They were great.

But, you can also make baby bibs entirely in the hoop. There are a lot of in-the-hoop baby bib embroidery files available, but I love the in-the-hoop quilted baby bib from Sue Overy Designs. Her instructions are super clear and the project is quick. But, I would definitely recommend getting a turning tool as well as a snap inserter kit to make finishing quick and easy.

Even if you only have a smaller hoop (6″ x 10″), you can still make these bibs. In fact, the small bibs are totally suitable for newborns.

2) Baby month onesies.

You know those pictures you see on social media of babies wearing a onesie with their age in months on it? Cute, right? I guess this became a trend after I had babies because I had never seen such a thing back in my day. Plus, I was too stinking tired to deal with any of that nonsense anyway.

Well, before I learned that those month numbers were just stickers, I thought it would be cool to make a set of appliqué designs for the front of a baby’s onesie announcing the baby’s age.

Stitching out a set of baby onesies with all the months on it will be a huge hit with the ambitious and organized soon-to-be mom who has visions of taking a picture of her baby at each month for all of her Instagram followers. She’ll probably be too tired to actually do it, but at least at the baby shower, she will still be delusional and optimistic.

Note: if you decided to execute this project, you should cover the inside of the appliqué with Cloud Cover to prevent chafing from the back of the design.

3) In-the-hoop memory game

When my kids were little, they loved to play the game, Memory. In fact, one time on a vacation when we didn’t pack enough toys, I made them a memory game using pairs of paint swatches from Home Depot. It was such a hit that they kept those silly paint swatches for a long time.

When my brother’s daughters were at the ages of mine when they were obsessed with the paint chip memory game, I decided to make them a memory game using my embroidery machine.

To be honest with you, this project was more about me mastering in-the-hoop techniques then making the perfect Christmas gift. However, I totally knocked it out of the park! Those little girls loved this memory game like you would not believe! And, the parents appreciated it because it wasn’t a big bulky piece of plastic junk.

I stitched out 12 little pairs of memory cards so that the game could be played with 24 different cards or 12 matches. And because it was made of felt, it was perfectly suitable for a one-year-old to chew on and a three-year-old to actually play.

I also stitched out the perfect little pouch to store the memory tiles with their names on the front. The pouch and memory tiles were super portable and light weight which made it great for travel.

It was a total hit…but maybe not for playing memory so much. Putting the memory tiles in and out of the pouch was pretty exciting for these little girls. Check out the memory game in-the-hoop design.

4) Tooth fairy pillow

A baby shower is the perfect opportunity to make and give a tooth fairy pillow. The baby hasn’t even been born yet, so, there’s no way that this baby has a tooth fairy pillow. You need to get on this as fast as possible! Plus, it’s quick and easy to make and it is very inexpensive.

My tooth fairy pillow design was inspired by the one my mother bought for me. Yes, I know it’s a little girly, so if this baby is going to be a boy, maybe skip this version altogether and make the button tooth fairy pillow I made for my son.

5) Baby stuff tray

This goofy baby tray just cracks me up. It’s a 3-dimensional object that you make in your embroidery hoop. Crazy. But it is also incredibly useful. You can set it on a changing table and use it to hold all the baby doodads like wipes, ointments, etc… The in-the-hoop baby tray is available from Memories in Thread. If you want to personalize it. I’m sure you can stitch out a name at the front of the bottom of the tray.

6) Personalized hooded towels

Little babies get COLD after their baths which is why a hooded towel is such an essential item for newborns. When my kids were babies, we were loaded up with several hooded towels which was totally necessary as they were supreme barfers and poopers and always in need of a bath.

When it comes to hooded towels you can either order a pack on Amazon or buy them at any old baby store and add a monogram or a name.

Or you can completely DIY it. There are really creative free hooded towel patterns, and some simple and quick ones using terry cloth you can buy at JoAnns or fabricated from preexisting towels.

Now if you want to stick with the bath theme – you may be tempted to add some wash mits which could be personalized as well. I especially love these in the hoop animal wash mits from KylieChaos.

7) In the hoop baby toy.

Some squishy toys are a lifesaver when you’re trying to entertain your little one on a flight or when they are stuffed in the back of a car seat. When my oldest was a baby she was mesmerized by this high contrast plush toy called a Whoosit. And, as new parents, we were so desperate to keep our car seat hating baby happy that we would not go anywhere without the Whoosit.

Now you can make a similar type of silly baby toy completely in the hoop! And you can even personalize it. Like the Whoosit, this toy clips onto a car seat, making it easy to take wherever you go.

Ok – got to be honest here. This is one of my favorite baby shower gifts to make on an embroidery machine because it is a great present topper. I’m not great at wrapping presents and tying one of these on top just takes it to the next level.

8) Personalized Booties

My shoe obsession and embroidery obsession really came together when I made my first pair of embroidered booties for one of my cousins babies. I mean, really…. who has embroidered booties? Quilted booties are a great gift for a winter baby, ensuring baby’s feet stay toasty warm.

After my cousins wife opened this gift I almost dropped the mic and walked right out of there. She loved them!

Yes – there is a bit more labor involved in making baby shoes, but babies feet are small. So, you don’t need much fabric, and there isn’t much stitching. So they go together pretty quickly.

9) Personalized photo album

A new parent may be one of the few people who still get pictures printed. It’s fun to have a little book around to gaze at your newborn. Or, an album can be filled with pictures of friends and family to help baby get to know his peeps.

A custom album is cheap and easy to make. I even put together a how to showing you how to do it.

10) Blanket

When my kids were little we had a million little blankets everywhere. If you have ever taken care of kids, you probably know that blankets are a necessity for wrapping babies and carrying them around. When my kids were little we lived in frigid Boston, so I usually snuggled them in a half dozen little blankets any time we went outside.

Fortunately, we received a lot baby blankets as gifts. I have elaborate baby blankets that friends spent hours and hours quilting. They are absolutely stunning, and I appreciate all of the work that went into them. But when it comes to finding a blanket that soft and easy to use, I always grabbed the fleece ones.

And when it comes to fleece blankets, you can whip one out with a piece of store bought fleece or buy the blanket as is and add a name. And, in my opinion, fleece is one of the easiest materials to embroider on.

So there you have it, my friends, 10 baby shower gifts to make on an embroidery machine. Trust me – even if the baby shower is a total snoozer, instead of “oohing” and “ahhing” over the Diaper Genie, they’ll be of “oohing” and “ahhing” over your gift.

Happy stitching!!

Julie