Changing Table Topper

In our house, we have a changing pad that adheres to a surface rather than a changing table with something built in. We actually have two, one for changing downstairs and one for changing outside the kids' bedrooms. Before our little guy was born, we had one in our daughter's room. We never got a cover for it because it's vinyl-y, which makes it quite wipeable. Some of you may cringe at the germs that must lurk on it but I do disinfect it regularly and clean up anything visible. 

However, because of this, when our daughter would spit up on it, it would have nothing to absorb into and it would run into her hair and outfit. Basically, it made her messier than necessary. We started using a folded receiving blanket under her head. (I don't know why everyone thinks they make such great gifts. We rarely swaddled her in them and this was our only other use for them. I don't give them to people for the sole reason that as a parent, I never found them useful or handy. If any of you do use them, please tell me what I'm missing out on). It just simply folded in half and then it was absorbent enough that we didn't have a problem anymore. It was just placed on the head end so it wouldn't get in the way for the diapering process. Then we could wash these and put another one on. I realize that a cover would've done the same thing but if I had to change the cover every time I got a drop of pee or poop on it, I would go crazy. It was much easier (and less laundry) if I just wiped it up from the table. 

Now that we have two changing pads, we found that our very small stash of receiving blankets was not enough. So I decided to make a blanket topper. Now, with the size I chose, this could definitely not be used as a receiving blanket. Mine is about 11 inches by 30 inches. This was my first sewing project after our son was born (and I barely got a chance to sew at all since our daughter was born) so I was a little rusty and it's not perfect but it gets the job done.

I took two pieces of flannel and cut them to be about 11 inches by 30 inches. I put them right sides together and sewed around the edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leaving a gap to turn. Then, I turned it right side out, poked out all my corners, and hand stitched the gap closed. Finally, I top-stitched the whole thing and voila! I was done. Back in the day (not that I was ever a very efficient sewer, but better than I currently am), I could probably have this done in about 25-30 minutes. Today, it took more like 50 but part of that included clearing off my cutting mat, where I had been piling things for the past few months. So for those of you experienced, this is a pretty quick project. 

Here is the final result: 

So the brown (bears) are the back side (folded over so you can see) and the green alphabet that's impossible to tell that it's green or an alphabet are the main fabric. So then you just lay the baby's head on this and all your problems are solved!