My Boy’s Bandana Bib

Sewing projects for boys I feel are not common. Here is one for those mamas who have a bouncy, handsome yet unnaturally drooly baby boy. I have one. I can’t get over how much he drools. My daughter never drooled. Finn is amazing in that way to me. I think his mouth would get dry after, you know, 24+ hours of drooling. Well, I’m getting tired of the bibs I have. (I could make more easy baby bibs here.) But I’m getting bored of the look. And when I just let him drool all over his shirt… and pants… he’s all wet and gross looking and I’m sure it’s not comfortable, whether he knows it or not. Either way it makes me feel like a bad mommy leaving him wet.

Ok, so let’s make a bandana bib!

What you need isn’t a ton. And the great thing is that it doesn’t take up a ton of fabric. Gather the stuff below:

• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• 2 pieces of fabric. I used flannel from Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, Utah and some terry cloth from JoAnn’s. You can really use any scrapes you have.
• Pattern (link below)
• Tape measure (This is only necessary if you don’t use my pattern and want to measure your own.)
• Pins
• Iron (not necessary)
• Snap pliers (If you don’t have those and don’t want to buy some you can use a button or Velcro.)

Not all too daunting. And it’s not a long project. It’s straight lines… which is awesome. Even if this is your first time touching your sewing machine. You can do this. I’ll show you. Just watch YouTube videos or read your manual that will show you how to thread your machine and bobbin. Got it? Ok! Let’s sew!

Well, before we sew we need to print off the pattern. I keep my patterns on interfacing so they are more durable and I can use them again and again. So print off your pattern below and cut it out.

• Bandana Bib Pattern Part One
• Bandana Bib Pattern Part Two:Three

Now, let’s grab the fabric. Lay your patten on top of your fabric. Pin the pattern to the fabric so it doesn’t shift around as you cut.

I did it first with my flannel above. And now below you can see that I did it also with my terry cloth.

Ok, now… you have two triangles.

See what I did? Do you see how my planes – although right side up on my triangle and they look fine – are all upside down (remember this is going to have with the point down). Stupid me. Learn from my mistake and make sure you check the direction of your pattern if you have one! Ok, now lay the two triangles right sides together. The right side of your fabric is the side that has the pattern. Terry cloth can be hard to tell what side is the right side… it doesn’t matter too much with terry cloth so don’t stress out about it. The wrong side of fabric refers to the back, or the non-printed side.

Pin together. You will need to leave a gap. You will want the gap to be about 2-3″ long since you will need to pull your fabric through it. I like to leave my gap on the longest side right in the middle. That part will be under their chin and not as noticeable. Also, don’t leave your gap on a corner since those are harder to sew shut.

Now sew around the edges but don’t forget to leave your gap. When you start sewing start with your needle and pressure foot down. Backstitch when you start and stop.

Ok, Done? See my gap?

Great, I hope you didn’t forget that part. If you did just grab your seam ripper and make a gap. Now cut off your corner and clean up any edges that are wide. Just be careful not the cut your stitching.

Turn right side out!

Now let’s close that gap. Fold in the raw edges. Raw edges are basically unsewn edges of fabric. Pin shut.

Now we are going to do a top stitch. It makes everything look nice and finished. It also will close up your gap. I like to start at a corner.

Did you go all the way around?

Great! Now we are going to make it so that the bib attaches. You can use Velcro or a button but I love snaps. Grab your snap pliers and read the directions or call your sister… or youtube it. Whatever. Attached your snap!

Done! Messed up your snap… I have too… No worries. Click here. I’ll show you how to remove them. It’s easy… especially for me since I made my husband do it for me. But you can do it yourself if you don’t have a husband handy.

Awesome possum. You did it! Be happy that you made something. If it was hard no worries. It’s a skill. It takes time. And look… Since I made it upside down… I made a new one.

I couldn’t let my Finn wear it around upside down!

Enjoy the drool!

A Presto!

Jacqueline

 

 

 

The Super-Duper Easy Cape Tutorial

My Elli got onto the whole Frozen bandwagon a wee bit late. Like… almost a year late. That’s my fault. She just started to be interested in watching movies and she’s not into princesses so why bother… well then my Mother got the movie and my Elli… or rather Elsa as she wants to be called is just another Frozen-Crazed-Toddler. She just wishes so badly she could create ice and snow. She also screams “let it go” every time she undresses…

I decided to make her an Elsa cape. Well, she and I had a small misunderstanding about this cape. She thought it would give her magic like Elsa and she then could make Autumn in Minnesota turn into Winter by wearing her cape and stomping her foot. It didn’t happen. Instead we had an hour long tantrum. Then she realized she could un-button her cape and it would blow away in the wind (just like in the movie). I was SO thankful it was windy this morning. Now she loves it and has showed her cape off to the other little girls around the neighborhood; she is quite proud of her sparkly, snowflake Elsa cape – even without it’s powers. Phew!

Want to make an easy one too? The great thing about this cape is that it can be any cape you want. It can be an Elsa cape, a vampire cape, or a Superman cape! And it’s not super complicated. Let me show you.

She looks happy, right? Ok, so let’s begin!

• Cotton Fabric. I have snowflake cotton with sparkles from Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, Utah. Everywhere is sold out of Frozen fabric. But the snowflakes work awesome.
• Tape measure
• Pins
• Scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Serger (optional)
• Snap Pliers (optional)

Got it all? Ok, awesome. We are going to first cut our fabric. I cut my piece to be 44″ x 34″ because I wanted it to be long like Elsa’s in the movie. You can make it whatever size you want. I basically just cut my fabric as long as I wanted by holding it up to Elli and then left it as wide as when it comes off the bolt. You will have two edges that aren’t cut. Those are called the salvages. They won’t fray. Easy enough.

Iron if it’s wrinkly. Now I serged the two sides that were raw edges. I left the selvage sides alone. Remember that when you serge you keep serging a tail on the end. You will need the extra thread to tie off to stop it from unraveling. If you don’t have a serger just fold over twice. Iron. Sew.

Now you have a large piece of fabric with two sides serged and two salvages?

Sweet. Ok, now I took the 34″ side (one of the salvage edges) and, wrong side up (the right side of the fabric is the printed side and the wrong side of fabric is the other), folded over the corners into right angles. I ironed them down. Then I folded down the salvage edge a few inches and ironed. Then I pinned. You are making a casting for a ribbon to go into if you want to have the cape tie around their neck.

Sew. I started at the corner of my square that was created by the salvage. Remember to start with your pressure foot down and your needle down. Don’t forget to backstitch a few times!

Now take a big fatty needle and if you serged the sides tuck your ends in.

You should have something that looks like this:

Now fold up the bottom an inch or two… I don’t enjoy measuring.

Iron. Pin. Sew.

Now… you’re done if you are going to use ribbon to tie your cape around your kiddos neck. Great job. I’m sure they will love it. If you want to do a snap like I did… continue. Grab your snap pliers. It should look something like the thing below.

Now, basically just follow your directions to insert your snaps. I messed up even after calling my sister and reading my directions. I would recommend watching YouTube. If you mess up… do this!

Grab something hot and melt the middle. Once you melt the middle of the snap it will come apart. Easy! I had my husband do it. He took a lighter and warmed a small screw driver up and melted the middle. I pulled the snap apart and started over. Ok, so if you did the snaps right you should have something that looks like this!

Great job! It was my first time using snaps. And now you are done! It’s pretty easy! It’s pretty versable too. Halloween is coming up. Need any capes for costumes?

Good luck. I know you can do it! If you have questions let me know!

A presto!

Jacqueline