Ideas for baby clothes keepsakes - for a non crafty person!

[AndTheBeatGoesOn]

I posted a thread here about memory quilts, but if I'm unable to get one commissioned, do any of you lovely MNeds have any ideas for a craft/keepsake I would make with some old baby clothes I have.

I have my two dc and won't be having anymore, and is would live to make a keepsake with some of the clothes.

The only catch it....I'm not by crafty! I can hand sew but don't know how to use a sewing machine. Anything that's easy / effective would be great.

Thank you.

You could learn though OP!
I am not a sewer (knitting is my thing) but am sure someone will come along in a bit with good advice.
Sounds like a great idea for a project

I've just made my first quilt with my DD's old baby clothes and I'm so delighted with the results....it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
I was totally daunted by the project but I found an informal 'quilters club' who meet once a month and the people there were much more crafty than me and gave me lots of good tips.
I gave my DD her quilt for Christmas and she really loves it; it's such a lovely keepsake. I'm on my phone but I'll see if I can PM you a photo.
I took my friend with me to the quilt club and she has never sewn anything in her life, so she's starting off with a hand stitched patchwork cushion.

Marking place as similar idea

Are you on fb? Have a look for 'chocolate and ginger keepsakes and bears.' She makes beautiful things out of baby clothes, including family trees and bears. They are gorgeous.

Thank you all! beached I have a 2 yo and 4 month old, so not sure if learning how to make a quilt at this stage would be possible - I'm not very craft at all and not a quick learner(!)

I was thinking - and please tell me if you all this is a silly idea - but cutting up small squares of baby clothes, and hand sewing them into an A4 size shape, then putting some fabric glue and sticking it onto card and framing it.

Do you think that's too ambitious for me/will it look silly?

Another idea, was maybe I could just literally frame a babyvest - again is that really basic?

I would love to be able to make/have made something out of the clothes - like a stuffed toy, or cushion etc, but just not very crafty at all.

Damn wish I listened in Art class more now!

Thank you LJ looking at the page now.

Could you glue the fabric to these papier-mâché letters to form your children's names?

I've done it using tissue paper and they work really well. I haven't tried fabric though - but I imagine if you took your time, cut the fabric carefully and smoothed out any bubbles and creases then they would look pretty good.

I do love the keepsake bears. I have a gorgeous pram blanket from DC3 that would look lovely as a teddy but I think his big sisters (teens) might be a bit jealous

thewooly that's a great idea, I will look into it.

LJ have sent chocolate and ginger a fb message! would love one of those bears - gorgeous! Hopefully it's in my budget and/she is able to do one.

I love the idea of the papier mache letters, they would look great. You could even scan the fabrics on to paper and create a decoupage effect. This way you still get to keep the fabrics for a future project.
I agree, a quilt wouldn't be practical at all for you with such little ones. I have been squirrelling away my fabrics for the past twelve years and planned to make the quilt when my DD was 18. However I heard about the quilting group and was spurred into action. I work 6 days a week so it's taken me ages to complete; many nights of stitching in front of the tv!

I posted on your other thread :)

I've had a look at hobby craft and they sell these rico stuffed blank toys - bunnies, bears etc. do you think I would be able to cut up pieces of fabric/old baby clothes and use fabric glue on them to create a patchwork style (cheats) stuffed toy??

beachedwhale do you mind me asking how long it took you to make the quilt and how big it is? I am looking for something to do for my 3 dc with my lovely new machine. Would also be interested to know how much the chocolate and ginger bears are andthebeatgoeson am a facebook luddite

Ahem, Pinterest

3bunnies I've been quoted £35 over bear which sound good to me. Just waiting on some details before I decide to go ahead but it seems like a lovely idea for the cost.

Hi 3bunnies, it took me about 3 months and is approx 145cm x 145cm. I based it on a scrap quilt design, stitching the panels together on my machine, then quilting by hand, which was the time consuming bit.
I glad I spoke to some other quilters who were more knowledgable, as I never would have known to buy a cutting board, rotary cutter etc. The proper equipment really helped.
If you want to, please PM me your email address and I'll send you a photo of the finished article.
I was really quite daunted but I found once I started cutting the fabric I was on a roll and I'm just about to embark upon my next project.

That sounds fair for the work but with three probably out of our budget. Will maybe try to find some patterns online. I will pm you beachedwhale my quilting might need to wait until ds starts school in Sept.

3bunnies if you can make something yourself I think that would be very special! I'm just absolutely useless at anything crafty which is a shame(!)

Some great ideas on this thread