Homemade Baby Toys to Sew Using Scrap Fabric

If you have some sewing skills, many homemade baby toy options are opened up to you. All it takes is beginning sewing skills, some scrap fabric and some sort of stuffing to make a fun toy for your little one.

Fabric Choices. The first thing to consider when choosing which scrap fabric to use to make your baby toy is the color. Contrasting colors or shades (like black and white) are good for very young babies. If you have enough scraps, a fun option is to make a rainbow toy. Or you can coordinate the toy to match nursery bedding.

Another idea is to sew scraps of fabric with different textures together. Using differently textured fabrics makes a fun, tactile, touchy toy. You could also make a mini feelie quilt using textured fabrics.

General Tips. Here are some general tips for sewing, turning, and stuffing soft homemade baby toys. Reinforce seams by backstitching the first and last ½ inch of your seams. When leaving a gap for turning a project inside-right, reinforce the ends of the stitching next to the gap, which will be stressed when turning. Press your seams while the project is inside-out, include the gap where the seam will be. Use a pen to poke out your corners after turning your project. Once your project is stuffed, slip-stitch the gap closed. Keep in mind that these ideas can be made noisemakers by inserting a bell or other noisemaker in with the stuffing.

Ball. The easiest way to sew a ball is to cut long, oval shapes from your scrap fabric, tapering the top and bottom, and sew the right sides of each strip to another in a line.. Join the beginning and end of your strip of ovals, leaving a few inches for turning and stuffing. You can put a bell or other noisemaker inside the ball.

Snake. A toy snake can be made out of just about any scrap fabric. Piece scraps of fabric together into a long strip, a little more tapered on one end and slightly snake-head shaped on the other. Sew the right sides together, leaving a space for turning and stuffing. It's a good idea to leave your opening in the middle of the snake, otherwise it will be hard to stuff all the way down to the tail. If you'd like to add a tongue, use red felt or a similar non-fraying material and attach it by sewing it between both layers of fabric at the tip of the snake's head. Make sure the good end of the tongue is between the right sides of the fabric.

Block. To make a soft toy block for a baby, cut six four-inch squares out of scrap fabric. Sew the squares together using a ½ inch seam allowance, and don't sew the top ½ inch or the bottom ½ inch of each seam. Sew four squares together in a row; add the top and bottom squares to one of the middle of the four. Sew the other three to the top and the bottom, leaving a gap for turning in one seam. A fun thing to do with stuffed blocks is sew hook-and-loop tape on them so they can be easily stacked by a young child.