Easy DIY Colored Burp Cloths

Let’s get to it. Easy and gorgeous DIY colored burp cloths!

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For my baby shower I received a ton of the Gerber Prefold Cloth Diapers, which I refer to as burp cloths. You can find them Here They are an awesome size for throwing over a shoulder or down on a changing pad, and are definitely more absorbent than some products marketed as burp cloths. While I was consumed by nesting I was overwhelmed with the need to make everything organized and adorable. I wanted something more interesting than a drawer full of plain white burp cloths. I brainstormed and googled and came up with a plan to dye my burp cloths. As far as DIY projects go, colored burp cloths are fairly easy. If you can pour and stir, then you can make these.

I have really enjoyed having these colored burp cloths, they have a few benefits compared to the plain white ones:

• stains are less apparent
• bright colors are easy to locate in a crowded diaper bag
• unique colors don’t get mixed in with other mama’s belongings
• they’re pretty

To dye the burp cloths I mostly followed the package directions. Keep in mind that you should maybe probably look at the directions yourself.

To start I bought two packs of Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye – this stuff. Each package is 1.75 ounces, and is meant to dye 1/2 pound of fabric. I chose the colors Goldfish Orange and Bahama Blue. After a mishap with the sink drain not sealing I ended up with my lighter orange burp cloths, and ordered a second pack of the Goldfish Orange to achieve the color I wanted.

I dyed five burp cloths with each pack of dye. Technically a half pound of fabric is three burp cloths, but I decided I was alright with sacrificing a bit of color for the sake of being frugal (although the dye isn’t very expensive at about $4 a pack depending on color).You will need your burp cloths, dye, salt, a large bowl, and your dyeing receptacle. For my dyeing receptacle I utilized my kitchen sink, but you could also use a very large bowl or bucket.

Step 1: Wash or wet your burp cloths. I chose to just dampen them in the sink, but you could also wash them and leave damp. You want them damp, not soaked.

Step 2: Dissolve the full pack of dye in 4 cups of warm water. The directions say to use rubber gloves and mix by hand. Due to a rubber glove shortage in my house I used a spoon, and things turned out just fine.

Step 3: Fill your dyeing receptacle with enough warm water to cover your fabric, add 1/4 cup of salt and stir to dissolve.

Step 4: Add your dissolved dye to the water, and stir well. There’s no pictures of the pouring here because I was positive I would spill and stain…everything. This is a permanent dye people.

Step 5: Add your fabric and fully submerge.

DIY Colored Burp Cloths in Goldfish Orange

Step 6: Stir. At this point I decided to do my own thing instead of following the package directions exactly. The instructions tell you to stir continuously for the first 15 minutes. I’m lazy, and didn’t. I gave the fabric a good vigorous mix every five minutes or so for the first 15 minutes, and then about every 15 minutes after that for a total of one hour in the dye.

Step 7: Rinse your fabric. To do this I pulled the burp cloths out of the dye mix (using my stirring tongs) and rinsed them in a colander until the water ran clear.

Step 8: Wash and dry. I ran a single color of burp cloth (no mixing fresh blue and orange in the washing machine!) on two short warm wash cycles, and then threw them in the dryer. I didn’t remove them from the washing machine between cycles, just ran two cycles back to back. Looking back, I probably should have ran a third wash cycle. The first time I washed the burp cloths after use there was some minimal color bleeding.

Step 9 (Optional): Add a second batch of fabric to your dye mix. I had some extra white onesies, and decided to throw them into the sink full of dye instead of draining it. The onesies came out a lighter orange, but were still definitely orange.

That’s it. You’re now done, and the proud owner of beautiful and less boring colored burp cloths.

I always enjoy being a little unique and extra colorful. How do you personalize your baby gear?