Make Your Own
Cloth Baby Wipes!

It is super easy to make your own cloth baby wipes. You don't even need to go out and buy new fabric since you probably already have what you need around your house.

There ARE some super lovely fabric choices out there for making cloth baby wipes (sherpa, organic cotton, hemp, etc), but some of us are on a budget! If you do want to buy some nice fabric, this tutorial can be used to make wipes out of whatever kind of fabric you want to use or have on hand.

These wipes end up being about 8 inches square, which is about how big we like them at our house. But, everyone has their own preferences. If you are not sure what size you like, make a few different sizes and see which ones you end up grabbing first when it's time for a diaper change! Then make a bunch more in that size.

We also like our cloth baby wipes to be a little thicker, so I made these with 2 layers. One side is soft flannel and the other is terry cloth. I like the terry cloth because it helps "grab" the poo off of my baby's butt. But, then I like having the softer flannel side because it is more gentle on baby's delicate skin.

These are just basic, easy instructions that a beginning sewer can follow. Depending on your skills, you can embellish and make them a little more fancy if you prefer. Just remember, they ARE for cleaning stinky bums, so no need to go overboard!

What you will need:

• A sewing machine
• Scissors or a rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• An old terry cloth towel
• Receiving blanket
• Coordinating thread

1. Measure out your fabric to the size you would like your cloth baby wipes to be, plus 1/2 inch. So for these, I measured 8 1/2 inches on each side.

2. Use scissors or your rotary cutter to cut out your square.

3. I used the towel square as my "pattern" for cutting out the flannel piece.

4. Pin the two squares together with the right sides facing each other.

5. Sew around the square, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

6. Leave a small opening on one side (about 2 inches).

7. Cut off the corners to take away a bit of the bulk. Make sure that you don't cut into your seam.

8. Turn your square right side out. You can use a chopstick to help if you made your hole too small.

9. Tuck the edges of the small opening inside.

10. If the fabric is not tucking in and staying put, you can use your iron to crease the fabric and/or pin the opening closed.

11. Sew around the outer edge of the square, close to the edge. Make sure the opening gets sewn together. I used a zig-zag stitch to make it a little more cute, but you can just do a straight stitch, or whatever you like. The fabric around the edge is really thick, so go slow and make sure your sewing machine is adjusted to the correct settings.

12. See, the zig zag makes it a little more "fancy"!

13. Voila! You have yourself a handmade cloth baby wipe! This took about 10 minutes for me to make, so to make a few dozen can easily be done in an afternoon.

You can play with these until you get a cloth baby wipe that you like. You might want it bigger or smaller, or maybe even just one layer. Remember to keep it simple, and there is no "right way" to do it!

Go back to the top of this tutorial, How to Make Cloth Baby Wipes.

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