Baby Messes

Getting anything done with a baby under foot is nearly impossible!  Well, I could have wrote this post a while ago but I was trying to get more bibs and burp clothes done to show all the fun fabrics I chose.  I actually didn't finish them all but figured it was about time I got this post up!  Fitting in a few minutes of sewing here another few minutes there I was able to find time to work on sewing some bibs and burp clothes for Emma.  As she has started the solid food eating stage and teething we have been going through a lot of bibs!  And using all those bibs I have designated certain ones my favorites.  The ones where the snap is on the side of the neck are easiest to get one and off a squirmy baby.  And some velcro they use on bibs is not nice!  If you don't get the velcro tabs adhered together perfectly the rough velcro will scratch the babies neck..........poor babies!

So my goal was to save Emma's neck from velcro scratches and make it easier on me to whip those bibs on and off in a jiffy.  And I also decided to make some burp clothes in coordinating fabrics, because Emma does not like clashing fabrics...............and I had the extra fabric and burp clothes are our friends :o)  Someone gave us a stack of hand-me-down flannel burp clothes before Emma was born and I took them somewhat hesitantly thinking "I guess we can use them, we have tons of bibs!"  Those burp clothes have become our prized possessions, they follow Emma everywhere!  So new mommies.............you can never have too many burp clothes, they will be your new best friends :o)

As I was saying, with more baby messes has come the need for more mess catchers a.k.a bibs and burp clothes.  I traced an outline of the bib style I liked on poster board, with a little extra for a seam allowance.

I then cut out the pattern and used it to trace an outline on the flannel fabric I wanted to use. 

And then cut out the bib shape from the flannel and also some cotton terry cloth I for the back side of the bib.

I then added one side of the snap to the upper right corner of the flannel fabric.  Here you can see the "receptacle" (I'm not sure what the proper term is) side of the snap on the right side of the fabric.

With the back side of the snap on the wrong side of the fabric which will be inside the bib after sewing.

Next I sewed the wrong sides of he fabric together, leaving a couple inches open at the bottom of the bib for turning the fabric right side out.

 

 I then cut notches in the fabric around the curves so when I flipped the fabric right side out the curved edges would be smooth.  (Here's a picture from when I made the burp clothes as I forgot to take a picture when making the bibs).

Next I flipped the fabric right side out and used an invisible stitch to close up the hole at the bottom.

 And top-stitched around the edge of the bib:

 

And finally added the other side of the snap to the top edge of the bib:

 For the burp clothes I followed a similar procedure.  I traced a burp cloth we had for a pattern, used it to cut out two pieces of flannel fabric.  Sewed the pieces, right sides together, then flipped the fabric right side out and sewed up the open end.  Lastly top-stitching around the edges.  Here are how a few of those turned out:

And lastly, the most important part, quality control: