How To: Patchwork Adult Bib
Do yourself a favour and DO NOT look up the adult bib hashtag. Just trust me on that. It goes to places that my innocent sewing mind was not looking for. However, if you ignore my advice and end up in that unique corner of instagram, filter through and you will find some cute adult bibs made by sewists in there, and that is where this whole adventure started for me.
Actually it started when my sweet friend Justice from Thread and Sprout made herself the most gorgeous adult bib to go over her dresses and tops and I just knew I had to try one out for myself. I love scrap busting and this project was small enough that I wouldn’t lose focus doing so. The only issue? I didn’t really have any pattern or quilting experience to get started, but I was determined to not let that get me down.
For my pattern I took a bodice piece of a pattern I had on hand and used that as my base. I then freehanded the pattern from there. Yep, you heard right. I just drew a bodice to replicate something close to what Justice made. I checked my measurements and made sure I gave myself about 6” in ease. Now I definitely should have done a toile for this as there were a few issues with my pattern, but more on that later.
Next, I gathered all my linen scraps that I had on hand and decided on a colour story. If you sew as much as I do, then you know I’m swimming in scraps. I ended up on this fun autumnal vibe with the pinks, oranges, yellows and greens. From there I pieced them together however I wanted. Please note, this was an extremely daunting project for someone who is used to following instructions and directions, but also a very needed project as I was feeling very burnt out from other sewing projects. I just pieced and chose colours as I went until I had two pieces big enough for the back and front of my bib. Following on I chose the batting (which was also left over from previous makes) and the “back” fabric. I use “back” loosely as I made my bib reversible! Once I got all three layers together it was time to quilt. I don’t know what possessed me but I decided I was going to quilt this by hand. Had I ever quilted by hand before? No. Did I go ahead and do it anyway? Yes.
After 1 whole week of hand quilting I was done. My hands were cramped and sore. I clearly hold my needle too tightly. I’d recommend machine quilting if the option is available for you. You also need to stop and start alot when your thread runs out and that adds time to the project too. I should note that I had attached the front and back parts at the shoulder first before this step. I then put the three layers together. The wrong side of each piece facing the batting.
After all that, it was time to use bias binding on the outer edge. There’s no real process I had here. I just made my own bias in leftover linen and attached it how you would regular bias. Was I once again stressed out here? Yes. Did I enjoy the process? Also yes. This part didn’t take as long since I used my machine but you could easily hand sew this if you’d prefer.
Once the vest was all done I just needed to put in the buttonholes (one on each side) and attach two buttons. If that’s not really your thing you can also use snaps but I didn’t have any on hand that were sturdy enough for the bulk of the vest.
I was now ready to try it on and I was pretty happy for the most part. I probably put too much ease in and will make my vest a little smaller next time, and I also made the neckline way too wide. Aside from that it was the perfect project to just let myself be creative and use up some scraps. If you have any scraps laying around I highly recommend this project because it’s mostly fun and really goes with so much. I can’t wait to layer it over some dresses I have planned! Happy sewing!
