Impractical Bibs for Practically Perfect Babies

My dearest and only sister gifted me with a niece just over a year ago, and (as is customary) there was a celebration to mark the passing of that first year.

I had my own special gift planned that was not sewing related. It involved my own daughter and my niece Photoshopped atop a unicorn and a llama, respectively, and then printed out as a poster and framed.

Totally normal present for a one-year old child.

My mother, who has become aware of my sewing capabilities, commissioned me to make some sleeved bibs. You'll recall that these made an appearance in my action-packed "Sewing for Baby" post. I created a pattern using a vintage sleeved bib from 1843. I might be a little off on the date.

I documented the process this time, since I have a sewing blog and it is the done thing.

Step 1: Choose Fabric
Look in stash for complementary fabrics. Each bib has an A fabric and a B fabric. Wonder how it is I have so much fabric and so little of it "goes" together.

Step 2: Cut the Fabric
Cut out pieces. There are 4 pieces: the bib, the bib pocket, and 2 sleeves. You also need bias binding. Fabric A is the bib, and Fabric B is used on all the other pieces. For the first bib, I used Fabric A for the bias binding, but for the second bib I used the B fabric.

Sleeve laid flat.

Bib and pocket.

Step 3: Sew the Pocket
Turn down the straight edge of the pocket and top stitch it down. Baste the pocket on top of the bib about 1/4" from the edge around the curve, from one end of straight edge to the other.

Bib with pocket sewn on.

Step 4: Sew the Sleeves
Put the sleeves right sides together and sew the under arm seam. Then fold the end of the sleeve over and top stitch/hem to finish off the cuff area of the sleeve.

Step 5: Attach the Sleeves
Turn the sleeve right side out. Sew (right sides together) the front of the sleeve to the bib along the chest seam. Repeat for the other side.

Step 6: Bind/Finish/Attach Ties

I did this a different way for each bib, and I prefer the second version:

Version A, used on the pink bib: I sewed the binding on the back side the way you would with a quilt binding, then flipped the folded edge over the raw edges to the front and top stitched it down.

Version B, used on the blue bib: I tucked the raw edge of the bib into the bias tape so it's flush with the fold on the bias tape and just sewed it down once, catching both sides of the tape.

I think the second way has a cleaner finish, and was easier to handle around the curves.

A long piece of bias tape goes from the back of the sleeve corner, along the unfinished back edge of the sleeve, and then follows along the bib side and bottom, continuing along to take the same path in reverse along the other side. 

A shorter piece of bias tape is used to bind the neckline. I left enough at the beginning and end to make neck ties and then top stitched from one end to the other. On the ties, I'm just stitching the front to the back until I get to the part that overlaps with the bib neckline.

(I should have taken a picture of the back to really show what's going on...)

Finished bibs:

Bib, taken at night when I finished it which explains the flashiness.

Bib, taken the next day when I finished this one, which explains the much nicer natural lighting and the presence of mind to do a smarter binding.

Now to explain the title: These bibs are really pretty but not super practical. I really should use more utilitarian fabric, and line the back of the bib with terry cloth or something like that. Another thing I could do is use oilcloth, at least on the bib body, so it's more wipeable.

I have since discovered iron-on vinyl which will be helpful for projects like this in the future. That way I can use adorable quilting cottons but still get the wipeability of oil cloth.

Being just over one year old, my niece is definitely in the messy puree stage of eating, so these bibs are not super practical. I did use darker colors on the bib area so hopefully that will make it a bit less obvious if there's staining.

With the first one I made for Babu, I made the mistake of using a light colored fabric and it definitely stained. 

Exhibit A:

And that concludes the story of impractical bibs made for my practically perfect baby niece!