I've been making bibs for ages now and sold lots over the last few years but have never got round to making a Bandana bib. I thought I would give it a try today as I had to make a present for someone going on maternity leave at work and it was surprisingly easy!! I thought I would share it as a little tutorial. If you are a novice sewer give this a go. Its all straight lines!! This size bib will fit a new born baby to around 1 year. Once babies are weaned and eating food you might want to make the bib slightly longer and wider to cover more of their clothes.
Are you ready?
I made my own pattern. The bib is basically a triangle shape with the top measuring 17 inches and the two sides of the triangle 12 inches. I didn't have a piece of card big enough for the whole thing so I had to make a template for half a bib which I then place on the fold of the fabric so when you cut it out and unfold you have the triangle.
Cut one triangle from a nice cotton fabric and one from a nice absorbent fabric. I like to use towelling fabric for the back of my bibs as they are great for soaking up milk. Lay the two triangles on top of each other pattern facing downwards and pin like so
You then need to sew all around the triangle leaving a small gap to turn it inside out. You see the gap below? Make it bigger! Much bigger!!
You should then clip the corners to make them less bulky
like this!
Turn the bib inside out through the gap that you left - if you make your gap as small as mine this will be a complete pain in the **** and will take you ages amid much swearing. If you make it bigger it will be much easier!
Once you have managed to turn it inside out, you need to iron your bib flat. It should look like this with a small hole in one side. Make sure you iron over the gap and ensure the edges are neatly folded in ready to sew over to seal. You then need to top stitch all around the edge of the bib. This will close the gap and also reinforces the bib and makes it neater. You could do this in a different colour thread if you wanted.
You can then add your fastening. I use the snaps that you hammer on as I think they look really professional. They seem to be quite hard to get hold of though. You can use sew on ones or velcro instead.
Ta da! The finished item ready to be worn by a cute baby!
and inside
and modelled by a teddy as I don't have a baby anymore!!
and heres one I made earlier..
If you make a bib (well done for being able to follow my directions!) please let me know how you got on. Remember I want photographic evidence please!!