Baby Clothes Bouquet Ideas

We all like giving and receiving baby layettes for newborns since they are useful and practical gifts. But, do you really want to present your gift in yet another square box or boring gift bag? There is a way that you can fold and arrange baby clothing into a pretty and decorative baby clothes bouquet that will delight the mommy-to-be and just be unrolled later on to use as baby clothing when needed.

The object here is to make a floral arrangement using baby onesies, shirts, bibs, socks, booties, and washcloths. These are very easily rolled up and fastened with tape to floral wire or a wooden dowel with floral tape and put into a bucket or vase with additional filler flowers and foliage.

To start, unfold the baby clothes from their packaging. With the onesies, fold the sleeves in and roll up loosely like a sausage. Secure in the center with a clear hair elastic. Add a few small artificial flowers around one end and using green floral tape, secure the whole arrangement together starting about an inch or so from the ends of the onesie. Repeat the same process at the other end and you will have a double onesie flower. Take a large artificial flower and place it near the two ends. Tape the whole thing together, adding more fillers as needed.

With the other clothing pieces, fold in any extraneous parts like sleeves and fold into half into long rectangles and roll them up loosely. Secure with the floral tape and attach to a floral wire or a thin wooden dowel. Fold the washcloth into quarters and follow the same procedure.

To make little rosebuds with the baby socks and booties, overlap them a bit when they are open to slightly offset the heels. Roll them up and secure the wire or dowel in the center while you are doing so. Tape the whole thing together again with the floral wire.

In the same manner as when you make a floral bouquet, bunch the individual bouquets together and slowly start taping everything together with the floral tape. Keep adding filler flowers such as orange blossoms or baby's breath and larger artificial roses to the arrangement. When it is done to your satisfaction, you can finish off the arrangement in several ways.

First, you could put the whole arrangement into an opaque vase or bucket lined with a colored tulle or a few sheets of tissue billowing over the sides. Set the arrangement in this and add perhaps a sachet of dried flowers to complete the illusion of the baby clothes bouquet.

Another way to arrange this is like a handheld bouquet. Wrap the bottom part in another washcloth folded in a triangle to look like a doily cone holder. You could insert a thin piece of cardboard between the layers to make it a bit stiffer. Fasten the holder together with two sets of baby pins arranged like buttons going down to the pointed end.

Finally, the baby clothes bouquet could be held by a large plush toy like a teddy bear or rabbit. If you can find a toy in a sitting position, it would be much easier to position the arrangement. Have the plush animal cradling the arrangement in its arms and in its lap. If you are particular about the way the stems look, cover the stems with a square of tulle and fasten with a ribbon. Use a velcro button glued to the plushie's paws to simulate a hug and you're done.