Vintage Style "Baby's Laundry" Bag

Hi guys! Can you believe we are into May? 

If you follow me on Facebook you might have already seen me hanging out on my front porch with a big {totally awesome!} rusty metal star and the latest copy of Flea Market Style magazine, both courtesy of Chipping with Charm.
I was thrilled to
win a giveaway over there recently, and getting these goodies delivered to my door last week was so fun. Thanks again, Laurel! 

Today I have the first-ever baby project on Creating a Life! No, there isn't a baby on the way in my family right now. But I know some of my readers and blogging buddies do have new babies, and some have grandbabies. 
I'm somewhere in limbo with the baby thing. My oldest daughter has been married for a couple of years, but she and her husband aren't in a hurry for parenthood and my youngest child is 6, so there hasn't been a "babe in the house" for awhile now. 

Today we'll be making a sweet and simple "Baby's Laundry" bag. I first created one of these about 10 years ago when the last of my 3 daughters was born. Waaay back in the old days before blogs and Pinterest :) 

This is the very hanger for the bag that I made back then!  Stickers seem to be a less-used option these days, but it's what I had back then and it worked! My very first "lot" of vintage hangers I purchased all those years ago came from eBay . They can also be picked up at thrift stores and yard sales. My most recent ones came from Knick of Time on Etsy. 



So grab yourself a vintage hanger and let's get started!

By the way, for today's project I used a vintage hanger with the pants rod across the bottom, but if you don't have that style of hanger, I'll show you in just a bit how you can do this another way. 

There are so many different ways to transfer words to surfaces these days, but today we're simply printing the words "Baby's Laundry" in a font of your choice onto brown paper. We'll cut out the words and use ModPodge to glue, and then seal, the paper to the wooden hanger. 

Now we'll add a little ribbon bow at the base of the metal hook. I used a little scrap of brown velvet ribbon. 

Now for the bag- I used a vintage pillowcase from my stash, with a lace detail on the edge, making it easy to thread a ribbon through the holes that will be used to hang the bag on the hanger. If you don't have a lace or eyelet trimmed pillowcase, I've had great luck picking these up at thrift or consignment shops for a very reasonable price. I'll also show you how I make these without using one with the open patterned trim :) 

Simply thread a pretty piece of ribbon through both layers at each edge of the pillowcase. 

Then tie the ribbons to the hanger. 

I love the soft, vintage look of all white for babies, but if you like more color, by all means use a colorful pillowcase and ribbon! 

When all four of my kids were born, I always liked to keep the baby's laundry separate from the family washing. That extra special newborn time goes by so quickly, and it's just nice to take a little extra care and wash the baby's things in extra gentle soap. This makes it so easy (and cute!) to hang near the baby's changing area, or in the laundry area. Simply untie the bag and take to the washing area, and when necessary the bag can be tossed in with baby's laundry as well. 

As a side note: My pillowcase was actually much longer than I wanted, so I cut off the excess length, turned it inside out and ran it through the sewing machine. 

Here's a different option for using a hanger that doesn't have the pants rod across the bottom and a pillowcase or hand sewn bag that doesn't have the open lace or eyelet trim to thread the ribbon through. {Sorry I didn't get better photos of this one} 

You can drill a small hole at each end of the hanger and thread the ribbon through and tie in place. It's really not worth trying to just hang the ribbon ties over the hanger (trust me), it will just keep sliding off, usually when it's least convenient : ) For this bag, I simply stitched the ribbon ties just inside the bag itself. 

I hope you enjoyed learning how to create a vintage style Baby's Laundry bag today.  

Here are two more personalized hanger projects that would be great for Mother's Day!{click photos for more info} 

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Jeanette

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