Soft cloth book

My next door neighbor had a baby shower recently. In addition to purchasing something from her registry, I also gave her a soft cloth book. She loves books just as much as I do, and this cloth book will be a good one for her baby to start with (not counting the books that she's already reading to him before he's even born).

To make the book, start with white or light colored soft cotton flannel. Cut four pieces about 6 by 12.  Lay out small scraps of fabric to form the applique designs on each page. Cotton or flannel prints with kids designs are a great shortcut. You can also use small pieces of knits or fleece for textured areas. Fill some areas with stuffing to give them more dimension. I chose to use general pictures so that my neighbor can make up her own stories to go with them, but you could add words or personalize it with machine embroidery.

Start by tacking the pieces together with straight stitches or iron-on adhesive. Then go around again with a zigzag or satin stitch to make sure that all edges are secure and no adhesive or stabilizer is sticking out. Everything needs to be safe to chew and to machine wash.

After you have attached the pictures to the pages, sew each pair of pages together. Put the right sides together, and sew around the edge, leaving a hole to turn it right side out. If you put the hole near the center of the page, you can use it to anchor a small loop of ribbon so the book can be clipped on to a toy bar or stroller. Once you've turned each pair of pages right side out, stitch a border all the way around to stiffen the edges slightly. Then stack the pages and sew down the center. Clip all loose threads, wash the book, and then check again for loose threads.

On this page, the teddy bears are cut from a baby flannel fabric. The tree is made from a flannel "yo-yo" filled with stuffing and then quilted.

The house is made from a scrap of pre-quilted material, and the door is a separate flap that can be opened. There's a smiling star hiding behind it.

The jeans and shirt are made from scraps of real clothes. The boots are a fake suede type of fabric, wrapped around stabilizer cut into the boot shape.