Baby Shower Series: Gathering Supplies

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Well, folks, it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty details. I wish I could show you nice pictures for the duration of this series, but we have to talk details if I'm going to have you fully informed!

So here is my checklist of supplies for my onesie decorating station. Remember, I didn't do any dying. If you don't have a ton of space, I don't think it's a good idea. I had the kitchen table set up for onesie decorating, with 4 chairs. There was lots of seating in the living room with the munchies and drinks on the coffee table. For anything requiring an iron, we had a little "ironing station" set up on the counter. We laid down an old towel and had some scraps of cotton fabric sitting nearby for pressing cloths. I made sure the iron was on a setting that was appropriate for all the materials involved so that nobody would accidentally burn anything.

Supplies Checklist

❒ fabric markers

❒ dimensional fabric paints

❒ fabric screen printing paints 

or non-dimensional fabric paint

❒ flocked iron on letters, 2 sets

❒ jumbo felt iron on rick rack

❒ knit appliques

❒ iron on decals

❒ freezer paper stencils

❒ fabric adhesive

❒ foam brushes

❒ trays for paints (I used foil tart cups)

❒ cardboard for inside onesies (so paint won’t soak through)

❒ pressing cloth

❒ white plastic tablecloth

❒ scissors

❒ fabric scraps

❒ freezer paper

❒ interfacing scraps

❒ masking tape

❒ embroidery thread

❒ needles 

❒ pincushion

❒ regular thread

Nobody used the masking tape, or sewing supplies. We glued and ironed the appliques on. I brought fabric, interfacing and freezer paper scraps in case anyone wanted to create their own appliques or freezer paper stencils. This ended up being great because I had to remake one applique that didn't work quite right the first time, and another guest also cut some of her own lettering out of the fabric. 

I made all the iron on decals and appliques ahead of time. For the iron ons, I bought a package of Transfermations Dark Stretchy Fabric Iron On Paper with 3 sheets. I found a bunch of images online that I thought were cute and some that specifically fit the interests of my sister and her husband (for example, the Vancouver Canucks logo, and a picture from the book Where The Wild Things Are). I had them all cut out in advance and  I wrote the directions on the envelope I stored them in. As for the appliques, I'm putting together a quick tutorial to show how I did it. Once I have it done, I'll post it and link up to it from this post. 

When the day of the shower came around, we put the table cloth on the table and arranged all the supplies. I arranged similar supplies together, and had some things in small containers and others scattered around. Being that it was a small table, it didn't really matter. If you had a larger table and more people working at once, you'd probably want to do more scattering.

Just a word of caution: 

Make sure that you are familiar with how to use each of the items you have available for your guests to use and always be available to help them out. The host needs to be the expert! And because there are a bunch of iron on items that all require slightly different processes, it's important that you are there to help your guests so that everything works out for them! 

I hope this post wasn't too boring, but I think it's totally necessary if you want to throw this type of shower!