Baby Bibdanas Tutorial

Hi there! It's me, Trina from Will Cook for Shoes - back with another fun fabric project!

Maybe you've seen these around - Baby Bibdanas! Bibdanas are the new baby bibs and not only are they super adorable, they are also super easy to make.

My little niece Tess will be turning three months this week and is getting into the drool phase (sorry to air that on the blog, sweetie!). And so some Bibdanas were in order.

As soon as I saw Riley Blake's Saltwater Collection, I knew Tess needed a set of Bibdana's from all these fabrics in the line. The saturated colours and adorable designs are just perfect (my favourite being the little turtles) but what is also extra special about this line is the fabric is so soft.

I washed all my fabrics before I set about making the Bibdanas.

Do you wash your fabrics before you sew?

My general rule is if I'm garment sewing, I pre-wash. This way if anything is going to shrink, it's hopefully done that before I start cutting and sewing. And generally if I'm quilting I don't pre-wash. My rule about this is because I always wash my quilts before I give them away to make them nice and soft, as well as test for colour fastness and that are my seams withstand a good wash.

Being that these fabrics were going to be used to make something for little Tess, I pre-washed them and the fabric got even softer. Perfect for wiping sensitive baby chins, bitty noses and rosy cheeks.

For each Bibdana, you need:
- two pieces of fabric, to cut out fabric - fold right sides together and cut out a 10 inch triangle with one of the short sides of the triangle positioned on the fold
- a piece of velcro, 1 inch by 1/2 inch
- thread for sewing

I used two contrasting pieces of fabric to add interest. These Bibdanas will be reversible when you are finished.

These are my two pieces of fabric opened up after being cut with the short side of the 10-inch triangle on the fold.

Next, place your two pieces of fabrics right sides together.

Using a 1/4 inch seam, stitch all the way around except for leaving a 2 inch opening so that you can turn your Bibdana right side out.

Clip the corners from each tip so that they are close to the stitching (to reduce bulk) and turn right side out. Fully push out each corner, use a blunt tip if needed. Press the Bibdana to make the edges flat and also to turn in the seam on the 2 inch portion you left open.

Topstitch around all three sides to give a nice finish to the Bibdana and to close off the open seam.

Take each piece of velcro and place on the tips of the long edge of the Bibdana. To make the Bibdana lie flat when it's being worn, you'll want to put one piece on the "front" piece of Bibdana and one piece on the "back" side of Bibdana.

Stitch around all sides of the velcro to secure. I found some non-adhesive velcro for this project. The last time I used velcro with a bit of adhesive on the back I still had to stitch it down to make it stay secure and the adhesive gummed up the needle on my machine. I was MUCH happier with the results this time around and because this is a decent size piece of velcro, it's easy enough to hold and keep it in place while it was stitched in place.

I clipped the corners of my velcro so that they didn't stick out from the tips of the long edge of the Bibdanas.

Final step, thorough testing by my sweet little niece, Tess!

This was such a quick and practical little project. This little one's Mom has already said the Bibdanas have saved the car seat from a little incident and Tess's clothes are keeping dryer as she goes through her little drool phase.

I can see myself making a lot more of these in the future!