Babies are the best!!! I genuinely love sewing baby things! One of my cousins had a baby girl a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d make her a couple of bibs. Bibs are a favorite for me because I love piecing coordinating fabrics together to make them fun! Each one is unique, and I have a chance to use some of my smaller pieces of fabric to put them together. I’ve made all kinds bibs with different closures like snaps, Velcro, ties, etc. Not long ago I came across something a little different and wanted to try it out! The blog is all in French, but I adapted one of my bib patterns to make it work. Take a look at my inspiration here http://lapouletteapois.canalblog.com/archives/2012/09/01/25006250.html You make a buttonhole on one tab and pull the other tab through it… and it works! Good luck with yours if you decide to try it!
Here’s how I did it:
Step 1: Pick out your coordinating fabrics and piece together. On the sock monkey bib I simply sewed 3 fabrics together making sure the top piece was big enough to hit below the neckline. I then sewed rick rack around edge on the right side of the bib. On the hedgehog bib I sewed rick rack on either edge of the center fabric. As you can see there is no set size for these individual pieces. It’s totally up to you!
Step 2: Choose a backing for your bib. I like using flannel because it’s soft around the baby’s neck. Lay the bib onto the backing, right sides together and pin in place. Next I made 2 pink chalk marks at the bottom of the bib to leave an opening for turning right side out.
Step 3: Now cut out the backing using the bib as your guide. I do not cut the tabs out, as I have found it easier to sew around the tabs and then cut them out.
Step 4: Beginning at one of your chalk marks, sew around the bib using a 3/8” seam allowance. Stop at the other chalk mark. If you look closely you can see how I used the bib as my guide and sewed around the neck and tabs.
Step 5: Now’s the time to cut around your tabs and the neck. I suggest clipping all of your curves, being careful not to clip not your stitching.
Step 6: Once I turned the bib right side out I use a dowel that came in a bag of fiberfill to help me get nice smooth edges on the bib. I just insert the dowel into the opening at the bottom of the bib and run it along the sides, and it really makes difference! The picture on the right shows the right side smoothed out with the dowel, and the left side is simply smoothed with my fingers. See the difference? Then I pressed the bib, turning seam allowance inside at the opening.
Step 7: Using pink chalk I marked the shorter tab for a buttonhole. My buttonhole is approx 1 ½”. After making the buttonhole I carefully cut it open. Lastly, I topstitched ¼” from the edge of the bibs, being sure to catch the pressed seam allowance at the bottom. I chose to start my topstitching at the middle fabric rather than go all the way around. Press one last time! Yay! All done!
Hmmm…I may use these for a future project !! Keep an eye out!