DIY Toddler Bib

Jaden has entered his terrible terrific two-year-old stage. This means that he is beginning to assert his independence by voicing his own opinions. One thing he particularly insists upon is feeding himself. I am not allowed to help him. At all. Not even by cutting up his food into bite-sized peices. (In his opinion, a full sized Snickers bar is bite-sized, not the tiny actually bite-sized peices). He won't even allow me to help him eat hard to spear with a fork foods. As you can imagine, meal times have become very very messy. Messy meals are a problem when you only have two toddler-sized bibs....I mean bibs big enough to handle toddler-sized messes....especially when those two bibs are Halloween and Thanksgiving themed and those holidays are long since over. The solution? Make more bibs. Like this.

Gather your supplies. You will need:
*A bib that currently fits your toddler
*Fabric for the front and back of the bib
     For the front of my bibs, I used 3 fat quarters from Robert Kaufman's Airplanes, trains, and cars collection. The colors and designs are darling and totally boy, plus the fabric is 100% organic cotton (so be sure you wash it before you cut and sew it). I used plain white cotton flannel for the back of my bibs.
*Newspaper or other large sheet of paper
*Velcro
*Scissors, matching thread, pins, a pencil, and a sewing machine.

Since I didn't have a pattern for a bib, I made my own simply by tracing the Halloween one I already had onto a page from the newspaper. When you trace your bib, be sure that you add 1/4 of an inch to the outside edges of the bib so that you have a seam allowance when you go to sew it together. If you forget to add the seam allowance, your bib may turn out smaller than you want.

After your pattern is made, pin it to your fabric and cut it out.

Cutting out the back and the front





You can probably cut the back and the front out at the same time if you want to. I cut them separately when I made my first bib. Since I was making three bibs in one day, I found it faster to cut everything out at the same time & didn't notice that it made much of a difference in the size or pattern of each peice.

Before you put the right sides of the front and back peices together, you need to pin the velcro on. It will go in the upper right hand corner on the right side of each peice.


This is where the velcro should be when you're finished.

I had to use two strips of velcro to get the width I wanted. There was a very limited selection at my local hobby store. I will try harder to find wider velcro in the future. This works in a pinch, though.

After you have your velcro pinned where it belongs you can put the right sides of the front and back peices together, pin them in place, and then sew. Make sure you leave 2" opening along the bottom edge so you can turn your bib right side out.





Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Measure where that would be on your sewing machine and align your fabric accordingly. I always have to do this because I am a ditz and forget which markings on my machine are for which allowances. Silly moi, I know.

REMEMBER (as in DON'T FORGET) to leave an opening on the bottom edge so that you can turn your work right side out. I mark my opening with two pins side by side on each side of the opening I want to leave so that I remember not to forget to leave a whole.

After you've sewn around the edges of your bib, trim the curve around the neck and the corners, and then turn it right side out. Press the bib flat.

What about that opening? It is easy to deal with. My preferred method is to fold the fabric under 1/4 of an inch and iron it flat, making sure that the edges of the opening line up with the sewn edges of the rest of the bottom edge. I close the opening when I topstitch around the whole bib....which is the next step.

After you've ironed the opening in the bottom edge, topstitch as close to the edge as possible around the entire bib. This will look great and make sure that you've got that opening closed.

Here is the finished product.





Baby Burpie Tutorial (Posh Burpies!)

My babies spit up. A lot. Both S & J were born with acid reflux. Each went through several outfits daily. Not to mention burp cloths! We had an entire section of the diaper bag reserved for burpies, and I made sure never to leave the house without a minimum of three!

I've decided that being a mom doesn't mean you have to be frumpy. This means that burp cloths don't have to be drab. This is a tutorial on how you can make fabulous, stylish, functional burpies for your baby.

Here's what you need to make super cute burpies:
Fabulous Fabric
Matching chenille fabric
Basic sewing stuff (self healing cutting mat, large quilting ruler, rotary cutter, matching thread, a sewing maching, some pins, and scissors)

I used Michael Miller's flannel Dandy Damask in Cotton Candy and a Michael Miller flannel dot also in Cotton Candy, and white chenille for the back. I order my chenille from fabric.com. It usually comes in 58" wide yards.

~ You can make these using fat quarters, or you can cut the fronts and backs out of larger amounts of fabric. The bonus of fat quarters? No measuring or cutting! sweet. ~

Here's how you make them:

Cut out a rectangle 14" wide by 20" long of your fabulous fabric & another one the same size out of your chenille.

Here are some cutting diagrams. I drew them in Paint. Since I am not a drawing kind of artist, they are probably way off scale, but they will give you an idea of how you can get the most burpies out of a yard of fabric.

Once you have your fronts and backs cut out, pin the two rectangles right sides together & sew around the edges using a 1/2" seam allowance. Make sure to leave an opening to turn it right side out.

Turn your burpie right side out. Fold up the edges of the hole & sew the opening shut.

Top stitch around the entire burpie 1/4" in from the edge. Top stitch again 1/2" in from the edge. Your two rows of topstitching will be 1/4" apart. Topstitching twice gives the burpie a nice finish and improves the durability.

Voila! You've done it!

Maternity Skirt Tutorial

Hello! Welcome to my *FIRST EVER* tutorial! I am so excited to share this super comfy skirt with you.

This skirt is SUPER comfortable because the waistband is made from the bottom of an old t-shirt. So it is perfect for using as a maternity skirt. I'm not pregnant and it is still comfy. I am totally going to make myself a few of these when I am expecting another little blessing.

I recycled a big sheet for this skirt. What's up with me and recycling sheets? I just love the feel of a quality sheet. And I only had the top sheet. I was saving it to turn into something fabulous. And then I needed a white skirt for family pictures, so I made one from the sheet. Free skirt? Rock on! And now you can make one!

MATERIALS

1-2 yards of fabric....or recycle a sheet!

An old T-shirt (I used a favorite T-shirt that got stained)

Cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter

Thread and needle

Scissors

Sewing machine

Pins

INSTRUCTIONS

*Waistband
Cut 6 inches off the bottom of your T. Step into the circle strip & pull it up to where you want your skirt to sit on your hips. Pull the material tight, mark how much you need to take it in, then sew along your marking. Trim the edge. Set it aside.

*Measurements
You'll need to figure out how long you want your skirt to be. This would be adorable as a shorter skirt. I wanted a longer one, since I had not a single long skirt in my wardrobe prior to making this. I decided I wanted my skirt to be 30" long - that was my measurement from the outside of my hip to the outside of my ankle. (yes, I am that short!)

Take the length of your skirt and divide it by 3. This will give you the finished width of each of your skirt sections.

EXAMPLE: If you want your skirt to be 30"....30/3= 10" wide sections.

Now we need to include seam allowances. I used 1/2" seams. So you'll need to add 1" to each panel width. Since I used a sheet for my skirt, I took advantage of an already hemmed edge for my bottom panel so I didn't have to hem it. yay! But, if you need to hem your fabric, add 2 inches to the width of your bottom panel.

Now we are going to find the length of each section.

Take your hip measurement by slipping a tape measure around the widest part of your hips. Let's pretend my hips measure 36".

For the top section, add 8" to your hip measurement. (36+8=44" long)
For the middle section, add 8" to the length of the top section. (44+8=52" long)
For the bottome section, add 8" to the length of the middle section. (52+8=60" long)

Here are the finished measurements for my skirt sections:
TOP: 11" wide by 44" long.
MIDDLE: 11" wide by 52" long.
BOTTOM: 12"wide by 60" long (if I needed to hem) 10.5"wide by 60" long since I didn't need to hem.

Phew! Now the hard part is over. Cut out your strips of fabric & you can begin sewing!

Take your middle section and gather the top. I just do this by hand because it is easier to see and easier to pull out. You'll place the top of the middle section at the bottom of the top section, right sides together. Ease the gathers to fit the middle section, pinning in place as you go. Sew the seam using your 1/2" allowance.

If you need to hem the bottom section of your skirt, now is a good time to do it. After it is hemmed, gather the top, ease it around the bottom of the middle section pinning it in place, then sew the seam.

Now your three sections of skirt are sewn together and you are almost done!

Fold the skirt in half width-wise, right sides together. Sew the seam. Since you only have one seam, this will be in the back.

You're going to be sewing the top section to the waistband now. This is the last step!

Gather the top of your top section. Place the right side of the raw edge of your T-shirt waistband on the right side raw edge of your skirt. Ease the gathers around the waistband and pin in place as you go. I use TONS of pins. Sew it together with your 1/2" seam.

VOILA! You did it!