I hear babies are messy. My friend told me if there is something to stock up on, it's burp cloths and bibs. I give to you the Burpy Bib... a tutorial for an item that does double duty, and looks cute to boot.
Aden + Anais makes Burpy Bibs, but at $10 a piece I wanted a different option. This easy-to-make version costs next to nothing, and can be a beautiful, custom baby gift.
Start by printing off the pattern from
The Piper's Girl. She has a great one for free!
Here is what you will need for this project:
- 1/3 yard of fabric for the front. (I have used printed duck cloth, gauze, cotton... anything that will wash well)
- 1/3 yard of fabric for the back. (Use any soft, easily washed fabric. I like to use flannel.)
- 1 Snap
- Pattern
- Sewing Machine
Lay out and iron your fabrics. There is nothing worse than a giant crease when you are trying to sew.
Pin the pattern onto each piece of fabric and cut. I'm going to apologize for the lovely photography in this tutorial series. 3 days away from my due date, and I couldn't care less about the lighting.
Lay your patterned fabric wrong-side up on top of your second layer and pin in place. Sew around the edge with a 1/4 inch seam, but be sure to leave about 1.5" so we can turn the fabric right-side out.
Before turning the fabric, make little notches around the bend of the sewn edge. This will keep the fabric from puckering when we turn it.
Turn your fabric right-side out by pulling it through the little hole we left. Give the fabric a good iron to flatten the edges.
Look at those ironed edges!
Sew around the outside with a 1/4" seam. This terrible picture shows a lovely zig-zag stitch that I used. Why not make it fun when I am cleaning up baby mess at 3 in the morning!
Add the snap where the pattern indicates. There isn't a picture for this, but it is pretty self explanatory.
All done! Each one of these took me about 30 minutes. Nothing flashy or
fancy and surely not a perfect sewing job, but they get the job done!
As burp cloths, they have a nice contour around your neck so they stay put. As bibs, they wrap all the way around baby to keep those cute little outfits clean of food and spit up. Hooray for dual purpose!
