baby bibs

How to keep a baby somewhat clean 101

Was this a class you registered for back in college?  Yeah, me either.  It's one of those technical skill things you can't learn in a book but must experience in real life, right? Yep...so this is pretty much my mess maker, Little Sprout.

I had made a bunch of cute little bibs for her to wear back in the early days.  Loved these.  They caught what little drops fell as we fed her and they were so cute.  If I do say so myself.  This one is my favorite.

But that was then and this is now.

Little Sprout can no longer make do with those little cute fabric bibs.  We've moved on to industrial strength coverage here.  Attempting to utilize everything we've learned to date from our "How to keep a baby somewhat clean 101" course.

Who can resist the new oilcloths that are out?  I fell in love with the Amy Butler LOVE collection of oilcloths but ouch!  They are pricey.  I decided I could afford a quarter yard of two different prints.  They are 54" so you get a little more which is good.

I doubled up the oilcloth so that the laminated side was exposed both front and back.  I worried that if the cotton back got stained it wouldn't stay looking nice.  I don't know if this is actually necessary though.  I didn't know much about the oilcloths but a Twitter friend shared this link with me.  I found it to be FULL of great information.

You can wash laminated cotton.  Who knew?  So I think the double up was overkill.  I mean, you could single layer the bib and throw it in the washing machine if needed.  But with the double sided, all I do is wipe and hang to dry.

Anyway, I traced an old bib and added like 15 feet of length to it.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  I mean, check out the mess this girl makes.

I made the bib wide and quite long.  It is long enough to actually lay down in her lap.  I layed the two pieces wrong sides together so the laminated cotton was facing out on both sides.  Then I made my own bias tape and sewed it on.  Added some velcro at the neck.  Done.  Super simple.

A few notes.  I found that it's sticky.  You need a teflon foot to sew with.  I used one but it was still sticky.  I found this link that suggests using painters tape.  I think that would have done the trick for sure.  I also found that it can wrinkle kind of easily so you just have to be careful with it.

I ordered mine from Quilthome.com.  They carefully packaged it, rolling it and putting bubble wrap with it so it arrived in beautiful condition.

Thinking I'd be thrifty, I did not put a pocket on it.  Did you know the pocket is great for catching things like soup and yogurt that wee ones insist on feeding themselves as it dribbles all down the front?  So bib #2 WILL have a pocket.

I might even add an extra little tie under the arms to run around the back.  Just because.   While she typically dances in her seat, shakes her head wildly and giggles a lot - her bib gets out of place.  I think an extra strap may help to keep it down without me having to constantly adjust it.

I would love to actually do a table cloth with this fabric but it's like almost $20 a yard.  Too rich for us for a tablecloth.

Have you used the laminated cottons before?  What did you make and what suggestions do you have?

xoxo,

Trish

Bib Mania!

My hubby and I went on a little frenzy today with bibs for our baby! We chatted last night at bedtime about the designs and then this morning everybody chimed in on just how the different appliques should look.Andalucia fabric by Patty Young for Michael Miller I cut about 5 different designs and pieced it all together. Then we tried to put on the snaps. Shhheeezz! I think we busted about 10 of them before we gave up. SO...we dropped our older daughters at an afternoon birthday party and took a trip over to the local fabric shop for a pair of pliers designed to put on snaps. Hoping to catch a bite out to eat, we headed to the local wine bistro...not open. Then over to our old favorite, Village Wines, also closed due to renovations! And...we don't actually drink alcohol but our favorites happen to be wine bars, both these places serve amazing food! Next try, a local mexican eatery and it was open. We gobbled down a ton of chips, salsa and some mighty big burritos. Yummy! Hit the spot...oh, yeah, back to the snaps!

We get home with our new mighty pliers and my husband goes to work on the bibs. SUCCESS! We got the snaps on all of them and tried them on our little cookie monster! Too cute!

This gorgeous fabric with the heart I appliqued is a line called Andalucia by Patty Young. I love this designer...she has a fun blog and I love the surprise of colors from this line. I'm totally going to swipe her latest birthday party idea she posted for her daughter. She did a super fun cooking party and made the guests aprons, chefs hats and oven mitts. With my twins birthday next month, I'm thinking I may do the cooking thing and the aprons. Chefs hats and mitts...a bit too complicated for me :>) But, follow this designer. She's got fun ideas!

Anyway, the whole family enjFat little birdieoyed this process and my twins want to be sure that we bring their favorite, a brood of fat little birdies on orange dots, to church tomorrow. They think she should wear it all day, not just at meal time! I listed several on ebay and eventually, I'll get some up on my etsy site and my dot.com, whenever I get time to finish setting it up! I"m still working on finishing up some orders from Mary's party - kind of wierd because I lot of the fabrics are on backorder so I'm stuck waiting for them to come in to finish up.

So, what do you think of the fat little birdie? Cute isn't he? You should have seen my husbands idea for this applique...whew! He's a good artist but...I'm a better designer I think!

Ciao, TRP