Babyccino is the best of both worlds: fun and simple tips on living with kids from women in the cosmopolitan meccas of London, Amsterdam, Rome, and Milan — plus contributors from New York City, DC, and more. Their occasional Theme Weeks are full of tips from how to whip up a quick croque monsieur to fun crafts that keep your child happy and occupied. They have DIYs too, of course — like this cute way to make your own bibs from recycled kitchen towels, part of the recent “Simple Living” Theme Week. The how-to is after the jump. Thanks, Babyccino!

How to make a bib out of an (old) kitchen towel

The advantage of our favourite bib is that it’s so big it covers a lot of your child, including the shoulders. It is made of terrycloth, which makes it ideal to use as a napkin during dinner or to wipe faces and hands with afterward. It can be washed at high temperatures, doesn’t require ironing at all and still looks great. It is super durable — it is well possible that my grandchildren will be using these bibs! And last but not least, they are easy and cheap to make yourself: you can use any old towel you have around and for the binding you can use any old piece of fabric you have left over from previous sewing projects. You’re free to make your own colour combinations — the possibilities are endless! And you can make plenty — I always have a nice, clean stack of these bibs on hand.

Now, even though I love sewing, I’m not at all an expert in this field, so forgive my clumsy way of explaining everything… But I made a bib for my son, Pim, from a kitchen towel and photographed the different steps in the process to give you an idea of how to do it…

Step 1:
Print these 2 download-able patterns: here (1) and here (2). Cut out and stick together following the directions. Fold fabric (if there’s a print, make sure it will look good) and cut out bib. Don’t cut where the fold is! Don’t worry about seams — there are none.

Step 2:
Cut out 4 cm (1,6″) strips from any cute fabric you have laying around. Iron strips in half lengthwise, then iron edges to fold as shown in pictures. You need about 120 cm (47″) and 90 cm (35″) of binding. (You can also use store bought binding.)

Step 3:
Pin binding around bib at straight edges. Fold binding at the corners as shown in picture. Sew binding to bib. Cut off excess binding at neck part.

Step 4:
Pin binding neatly around neck part of bib. Start in the centre of the circle (with the middle of the binding) and work towards edges. Sew. (The neck part looks sort of tiny but it’s correct!)

Presto!

xxx Esther

P.S. For on the go: fold bib lengthwise, roll up starting from bottom, tie with tie strings.
P.P.S. These bibs are more suitable for 1+ than for babies!

If you want, you can use leftovers to make a bib for a doll — visit Babyccino for that optional step.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 5:45 am and is filed under crafting, living green, living with kids, surfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.