Baby bib

David is teething. And drooling. And when the hot weather started, he broke out with a terrible rash on his neck as a result. It didn't seem to bother him, but it looked uncomfortable.
I tried as best I could to keep him dry, which involved a lot of bibs. Thus, I either needed to buy more bibs or make them. Being me, I made them.

I chose some camo fabric my mother sent me that was left over from things from my brothers back in the day, and did one bib by tracing one of my existing bibs on a piece of paper, adding a seam allowance, and cutting out two pieces in my fabric. I put these pieces right sides together and sewed around the outside all the way except for a small section at the front of the bib. I clipped corners and along the curves to remove some bulk and turned the bib right side out. I then pined the hole closed with the raw edges tucked inside and top stitched around the whole thing once more. I added a snaps to the ends. The bibs I had had Velcro, but I had to be careful not to scratch David. In fact, he often scratched himself by pulling it off.

This bib worked wonderfully, but I decided to do something better. For the next bib, I looked for something I could write on it for fun. I found a onesie online in a baby shower picture that was camo and had what I decided was the best thing I had seen written on camo so far. I thought it was even more appropriate for a bib than a onesie.

I remembered reading somewhere (probably pinterest), about a lady who had painted a bib with fabric paint from a stencil that she had printed out, cut out with an X-acto knife (which is not a quick process), and glued in place. I tried this method. I was rather unhappy with the results and therefore stopped before I got it dark enough. I think it would have maybe worked better printed on cardstock, which was maybe what the lady had done in this original article (I couldn't find it again, but I am 99% sure her stencil was made of some paper). If I were to do it again, however, I think I would cut it out in a piece of plastic, much like this post.

Well, I was leaving town that evening but wanted to give it one more go, so I just free handed it. This is also the way I do french nails (when I actually paint my nails, which is almost never) because I could never get the white to not bleed under the little stickers they sell. The result is that some of the letters are bigger than they should be, the N is wonky, and the whole thing is a bit off center, but I do think it was an improvement. I also think the placement within the camo print is better on my free handed bib; there is not a big black section going right through the middle of it.

My husband came home and we had to leave before I gave it as many coats as I should have. This is about 2 coats. I also didn't actually use fabric paint. This is just acrylic. I knew from experience that acrylic does not come out from fabric well at all, so I decided to just go for it. It hasn't faded at all and I have washed it several times. It is a bit stiff, but since it is just a bib, I didn't think it was a big deal.

Note: the paint will definitely bleed through the fabric, so put something under the bib and paint it before you sew it together, or you will have a backwards version on the back of the bib.

Also, to all concerned, the doctor gave me some more tips on keeping David's skin dry and prescribed an ointment for when it gets really bad. He said it is a common hazard of teething during hot weather. The ointment cleared up the original breakout in 2 applications and he has only had little spots of rash since.