Tutorial; Make a bib

Bear with me as this is my first "photo" tutorial... As such, it's also photo intensive, so may take a bit to upload!

Make a bib
Materials Required:
For one bib;
33cm x 28cm Printed Cotton
33cm x 28cm Toweling
33cm x 28cm Flannel or Similar
Cotton
Velcro

Instructions:
1. Make a pattern or use one from the internet - chickpea sewing studio has a good one. Mine is longer than hers, and you can adjust the pattern to suit what you want. I based mine on a bib I was given when my girls were small. (Thanks Anita!)
2. Lay your pattern out on your chosen cotton fabric, pin & cut out.
3. Lay your pattern out on your chosen toweling fabric, pin & cut out.
4. Lay your pattern out on your chosen backing fabric, pin & cut out. (only took a pic of cutting - :) )
5. Make heaps at a time - I made 10 bibs this time! You can make it like a factory line.
6. At this point you could zig-zag the edges, but as the edges get clipped later there isn't much need.

7. Layer the fabric like this;

First the toweling
then the printed cotton (face up)
last, place the backing fabric on the top (face down)

8. Pin together and sew, leaving a gap on the side so you can pull the bib right way out!
9. Carefully, trim away the edges leaving a small edge. This makes the bib sit nicely when you pull it through!
10. Pull the bib through the gap you left at stage 8. Use a chopstick or something similar to get the neck to look right.
11. Iron the bib.
12. Top-stitch the edges so that the bib sits nicely. You can use a fancy stitch if you like.
13. Sew Velcro on so that neck can open and shut easily.
14. You have a great little bib!!
That wasn't so hard, was it?! If you want any help, just make a comment below.

I think you could easily make these bibs reversible, or to spice one up appliqué something on it. My sister would be able to do a great freezer stencil on them too!

thing a day; four

made a bib tutorial - to be posted later on today...

KAL Day 2 (Monthly Dishcloths)

thing a day; three

Sunny Days Cloth

KAL Day 1 (Monthly Dishcloths)

thing a day; two

white rabbit & brown bunny
- from my new Aranzi Aronzo Book (The Cute Book)

with the book - aren't they cute!

the footstool cloth

Materials: 2 different balls of cotton yarn (1 dark, 1 light), I used blue (lt) and orange (dk) for my cloth.
Size 7 straight needles

Cast on 46 stitches with blue yarn.

Note; 40 stitches make up the pattern, 6 stitches (3 stitches on each side) make up the border which is a plain knit border.

Row 1: Knit 1 row with blue yarn.
Row 2, 3: Knit 2 rows with orange yarn.

Row 4: Light (blue), k 3, p to last 3 stitches then k3.
Row 5: Dark (orange), k 3, * k 1, wl.fwd, sl 1 purlwise, wl.bk * to last 3 stitches then k3.
Row 6: Dark (orange), k 3, p to last 3 stitches then k3.
Row 7: Light (blue), k 3, * wl.fwd, sl 1 purlwise, wl.bk, k 1 * to last 3 stitches then k3.

Repeat Rows 4-7 14 times.

Next Row: (blue) k 3, p to last 3 stitches then k3.

Knit 2 rows orange, then 2 rows of blue and cast off (with blue yarn). Sew in ends.

The Wrong Side of Cloth (looks exactly like the bicolour half-linen cloth)

thing a day; one

the footstool cloth

I've been playing around with making cloths out of knitting patterns in a book I got from the op shop last month; Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary - 900 stitches patterns. This pattern is the opposite of the cloth I completed yesterday - bicolour half-linen. So, I was right about the back of the cloth looking good!! :) The cloth still needs blocking but I wanted to photograph is before we lost natural light.

I will blog the pattern in the next post.

thing a day; the beginning

February is here! - school will be back in less than a week - hooray! Never have I wanted that more than now, the girls have been at each others throats this week!!

I tried signing up for the thing-a-day challenge in February, but no matter what I tried I couldn't - the site said that it had sent me a confirmation email, but I never received the email. So I find myself thinking, that I will do this anyway - I've been making a thing a day for a while anyway, but this will make me more deliberate about it! More dishcloths are on the cards, as well as a little sewing... hmmmm! Sounds good!