Crinkle Taggie
Continuing with the baby themed posts, here is my take a taggie blanket. Not only does it have tags around the outside, but it has cellophane in the center so it crinkles as you play with it. A dear friend of mine made a couple sheets of “crinkle paper” for Liam as a shower gift. The crinkle paper was just cellophane between two pieces of flannel. Liam absolutely loved it, so I knew I wanted to make one for my new baby niece. Then I got the idea to add ribbons to make it both a taggie blanket and crinkle paper. Best of both worlds.
Start by gathering the needed supplies. I found the adorable flannel here at Joann. The taggie pictured is 9 x 9 square, so I used two pieces of fabric that were 10 x 10. I also made one 8 x 8 and only put two tags on each side. The tags are just pieces of ribbon, I bought a roll of satin and a roll of grosgrain to provide two different textures for baby to explore. The tricky part was to find something to make it crinkle. Searching the internet I got all sorts of ideas, from buying expensive rolls of cellophane, to using a used baby wipes container. I asked my friend what she used, and it was a cellophane bag meant to wrap gift baskets. I found these in the craft/floral department area at Wal-Mart. $2.50 bought me a kit with 2 bags which was enough for about 6 – 8 taggies depending on how big you make them. Then of course you need the usually sewing items, sewing machine, matching thread, pins, scissors, measuring tape, etc.
Supplies:
- Fabric, enough for 2 10-inch by 10-inch squares
- 12 5-inch strips of ribbon, different textures a plus.
- Cellophane, 10″ x 10″ square
- thread
- sewing machine
- pins
- scissors
- measuring device.
First, cut your fabric and cellophane to size. You will need 2 – 10 x 10 squares of fabric to create a 9 x 9 taggie. The cellophane should be cut to the same size as the fabric. I thought my cellophane was too thin to give the amount of crinkle I wanted, so I doubled mine up. This is up to you and what you find for cellophane. Also, if you haven’t already, cut your ribbon into 12 5-inch lengths.
Now that your materials are prepared, it is time to start pinning. Take one of your fabric squares, right side facing up. Fold the ribbon strips in half and pin around the edge of the fabric, so that cut edge of the ribbon lines up with the edge of the fabric. The loops should be toward the center. Evenly space the ribbons, 3 on each side. I alternated between my two ribbon types. Make sure the pins are close enough to the edge of the fabric that you won’t hit them when sewing with a 1 inch seam allowance.
Next, place the other piece of fabric over the tags with the right side down, wrong side up. The tags should be sandwiched between the two good sides of fabric. Lay your cellophane over to the top of the fabric. Pin around the edges through the cellophane and both pieces of fabric.
Once everything is pinned in place, we are ready to sew. Sew around the edges with a 1 inch seam allowance. Start above the center ribbon on one side, sew to one inch before the corner. Leaving the needle down, lift the foot and rotate the taggie 90 degrees. Lower the foot and sew down the next side. Repeat for the other 3 corners. On the last side, stop sewing right after the first ribbon. This will leave a gap between this ribbon and where you started sewing so that you can turn the taggie right side out. Be sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end so that your hard work doesn’t come undone.
Now you can pull out all the pins from both sides of the fabric. Then cut the corners, otherwise they will be all bunchy when you turn it right side out.
Next comes the hardest part of this whole project, turning the dang thing right-side out, through that tiny gap we left, without ripping out the cellophane. I promise it is possible, just be gentle.
Once you get it turn the right way, you may need something to pop the corners out so they are nice and square. There is probably a proper tool for this, but I used a mechanical pencil with the lead pushed in.
We are so close to finished. The last step is the pin the gap closed, right by the edge, then top stitch around . This will keep the gap closed and give the taggie a nice finished look. I used the edge of my foot as a guide for the top stitching, because it is easy. Do the same thing in the corners, leave the needle down, lift the foot and rotate.
Remove the pins and you are done. Give this crinkly taggie to a baby and watch them have fun. Liam started playing with his as soon as he figured out how to grab things, around 4 months. He is now 10 months old and still plays with it.
