Greetings meow meows and hunting dogs! I’m officially off for Christmas and won’t be going back to work ’til next Tuesday. I still have two and a half gifts to make and my plan is to finish two of ’em in the morning. The last half will likely not get done before Christmas, so one of my loved ones will, alas, be getting half a gift.
I’ll show you a few more prezzies in the meantime. First up, and most exciting (for me, at least. I’m easy to excite) is the man-apron. I just HAPPENED to have 1 yard of oilcloth that looks like wood, so I thought it would make a suitable butcher’s apron for a man-type who enjoys preparing roast beast over an open flame. Here’s a not-very-exciting photo.
I used this tutorial as a guide for cutting out the apron, but made it a bit larger and used my french curve to cut the curve where the arms are. Since it’s oil cloth I didn’t really want to hem it so I just stitched some double fold store-bought bias tape to the edges. I also used scraps for the neck strap, folding and finishing the raw edge with more binding tape.
I had a bit of brown argyle quilt weight fabric lying around which I used to make the waist ties – I had enough oil cloth left over to make the ties, but didn’t think that the thick, slippery cloth would make very good ties. I also added a bit of leather trim to the top of the apron to cover up the stitching from adding the neck strap. Yay!
Moving on.
I also made a few little itty bitty bibs. I actually used a pattern, since I’m shaky on the size and makeup of those slobbering teeny creatures. Here they are in all their pink and orange glory
Well looking at my 4wk old, her neck is very tiny and I guess bibs need to sit close to the skin to avoid dribble et al gathering in their folds. The things that get lost in chubby baby folds will boggle the mind! I don’t use bibs myself (im a muslin lady) so I can’t really compare I’m afraid. That cherry print is just adorable though!!! Make me a blankie from that, please xx
Oooooo…. a cherry blankie with orange polka dot flannel on the other side!! Yay!
What’s a muslin? Is that a baby thing?
Those look like drool bibs, not bigger-baby-bigger-neck food bibs. So if you’re making them for a little baby (aka 6 months or under, I guess?), then I’d say you’re good with the neck size. I never really used drool bibs, as I had a summer baby who pretty much was nekkid all day anyway, but I’d think six months would be a pretty good guesstimate age cutoff, size wise. (Also, I love the faux wood. Makes me want to learn to bbq just so I can have one too!)
I think the baby is four months or so. I actually DID google ‘how much does a four month old baby weigh to decide on the size, which is weight-based (this one is small/13-17 lbs) I always get confused on kid-weights because lucy is kid-sized but apparently strangely heavy for the amount as space she occupies. She’s a 53 pound hound.
I didn’t know how usable these would be but thought they were quick and cute – and I’m assuming the baby’ll get lots of dresses for christmas and didn’t want to jump on THAT bandwagon. Or make a baby dress..
I have to admit, those necks look pretty small to me. My baby was freakishly large, though (at 6 months, he was 24 lbs).
I love that apron! My husband was admiring it too. Very practical and hip. I have a huge thing for wood-grain faux bois fabric.
I’m thinking that, as the kid grows, those bibs could grow with. Add a buttonhole on either arm and slip in a loop of elastic. This house is another kid-free zone, so I can’t be entirely sure. Are bibs a choking hazard? Thinking back to my niece’s bibs, I think the point of these is that they don’t have a closure, but stay in place thanks to the elasticity of the bias and gravity.
“How do they hold up those giant baby heads?”
I’m afraid the answer is that they don’t, or not at first anyway. Even if the baby recipient has a really burly baby-neck, though, I’m sure your incredibly stylish homemade gift will be well appreciated!
BTW, I love that cherry blossom fabric too, and I’m very much looking forward to you making a dress out of it for this spring.