I purchased this waterproof bib for Madelyn awhile back. The brand is called Tidy Turtle, and it's the best bib I've ever used. They're kind of hard to find, I bought this one at Fred Meyer, but have never been able to find another one. I just tried looking it up online, and it looks like you can buy it on Amazon now for $9.99. Awhile back I would have ordered one, but just recently my husband asked me,
"Why don't you just make one?"
Why not?
Joann's just recently started selling PUL fabric, which is a waterproof, wipe able fabric that is usually used in making diapers. It was on sale, and I ended up getting the end of the bolt, so I have about a yard that I got for under $10. I'm going to be able to make a bunch of bibs with all that fabric, I will probably be making some for all our friends who are having girls this year.
The materials I used for this project included:
PUL fabric
Paper to trace out bib pattern
Extra wide double fold bias tape in contrasting/matching color to fabric
Snaps
A tool to attach the snaps (I bought a pliers kit, with my 50% coupon, worked pretty well)
First off, I traced the existing bib on some extra-long paper (it was too small for normal 8 1/2 x 11).
The bottom part of the bib has an ingenious pocket that catches all the crumbs. It's doubled over, so the pattern can be seen from the inside of the pocket. I made sure my pattern did that too.
The old bib with my new pattern right next to it.
Once I got the patterns cut out, I traced them onto the fabric and cut it out. One tip with working with PUL fabric is that you have to be careful with making pin holes. Once you make a hole, it's there forever, so you don't want to pin the pattern to the fabric before cutting it out.
Before putting the pieces together, I folded the pocket portion of the bib in half and ironed it. You can iron ONLY on the fabric, or printed, side of PUL fabric. If you iron on the back, it will probably stick to your iron. When ironing it in half, the two pieces ended up laminating themselves together, which was kind of unexpected, but worked out okay.
I then placed the pocket onto the main body of the bib, and started pinning the bias tape around the outside. This was the longest and most time-consuming part. I went around the outside first, then cut the tape, then used a new piece to go around the inside.
After a quick trip through the sewing machine, I used the pliers to attach the snaps onto the upper corners. My husband was supervising, and I will admit I would have put the snaps on backwards if he wasn't watching me :)
Close-up view of the snaps. Once I figured out the pliers, it worked pretty well.
All-in-all, a pretty quick and rewarding project. I think factoring in the supplies I used (not counting the pliers) this bib ended up costing me maybe $3? Not too shabby :) I will definitely be making more!!
