Adorable Custom Baby Bibs - A Tutorial

Ever since I became a grandmother earlier this year I have been having so much fun making things for my granddaughter. I have made a blanket, pacifier clips, bunny booties, a pom-pom hat, am currently working on another blanket, as well as a Bumbo seat cover and a shopping cart cover. Yes, I like to keep busy, and I love creating. One of my favorite things I've made so far though are these cute little bibs. I love being able to mix and match fabrics to customize bibs for my granddaughter.

I am not a professional and still have lots to learn when it comes to sewing, but what fun it is to practice! I didn't purchase a pattern for these bibs; I just used one of her existing bibs, traced it, and made my own pattern. I just used a page from a large magazine I had. I traced a 1/4-inch seam allowance around the bib pattern.

You will need the fabric you want to use for your bib as well as terry cloth. The first thing you want to do, of course, is wash, dry and iron your fabric. Then pick your fabrics that you want to coordinate for the first bib. The size you want the final piece of fabric that you will be lying the pattern on is 13" x 9". So if you have two pieces of fabric, you want to cut them to be a final size of that, as well as cut your terry cloth.

With right sides together, sew the two pieces of fabric together using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.

Iron the seam flat like so:

Now you have "one" piece of fabric to put the pattern on.

Put terry cloth and fabric right sides together. Pin the pattern to the fabric. It's a fancy pattern piece, isn't it? :)

Cut the bib out.

Now you will remove the pattern and repin the pieces together for sewing.

Sew around the edges with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, leaving approximately a 2-inch space somewhere at the bottom for turning.

Once you've finished sewing around the edges you want to cut out some notches around the edges so that everything lies flat when you turn it right side out.

Turn the bib right side out, using a point turner or something similar to push out the edges and make sure everything is flat. Iron the bib flat.

I then used Stitch Witchery to close the area that I left open for turning, even though I was going to top stitch.  I did this because I wanted to be sure it was closed all the way to the edge and no chance of opening.

Top stitch around the entire edge of the bib. I used the edge of the presser foot as my guide and amount in I top stitched.

For a closure for the bib I used velcro.  I used the iron-on velcro rather than the sew-on kind, as it was so much easier! Place the velcro at the top where the bib will close behind the neck, as close to the edge as you can, and iron it in place following the package directions. I forgot to take pictures of the velcro, but you can see here where I placed it on one of the bibs. I just matched the other side on the underside so that they can clasp together.

That's it for the basic part of making the bib. Now you can be as creative as you'd like and add rick rack, ribbon, etc. If you do decide to add rick rack or ribbon, be sure to use some Fray Check on the edges.

I also used the embroidery function on my sewing machine to sew my granddaughter's name on her bibs, as well as her little cousin's name on the bibs I made her.  If you have that function and want to know what settings/stitch length I used, here it is:

These really were a lot of fun to make.  I hope this inspires you to make some.  Now you have some super cute drool catchers!

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Here are some of the bibs I made for some ideas. 

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay