It doesn’t really matter if you’re feeding a baby, or feeding an adult who can no longer take care of himself, the mess can be huge. Food everywhere – on the floor, the chair and/or the face and clothing. You definitely need a bib; it’s a mess if you feed someone without one. Baby bibs aren’t all that costly but adult bibs can be. Whether you’re thinking of making small bibs or larger ones you can easily sew them from home. Using towels, bibs are easy to make for babies or adults.
One way to make a bib from a towel is to fold it in half and lay it in front of you. Position it so that the two short ends are facing you and the fold is across from you. Begin cutting the top layer of the towel, straight up the middle, and do this until you’re a few inches from the fold. Then, cut a large circle so that, along with the original cut up the middle, you create a large lollipop shape that stops at the fold.
Sew a long piece of binding around the cut areas and leave lengths of it hanging off, right in front, at the neckline. Use these to tie on the bib. Hand towels make nice bibs for babies and bath towels make nice bibs for adults. A bath towel makes a very long bib, and if you don’t want it to be that long, cut it to the size you want, then sew binding on over the cut edge. Most bath towels can be cut in half to make two bibs.
Use the towels in a different manner to make other bibs. Mark a place on one short side of a towel then mark a place a little further over on the same side. These should be spaced evenly apart and, when holding the towel up to the person, should be located at each shoulder, near the neck. Sew ties to the two marks. Ties can be made from binding, ribbon, or even bias tape.
The straps can be left long, and tied on each time you use the bib, or they can be secured by using Velcro dots or squares. Sew these on; don’t use the adhesive type. You can also bring the ends of the ties together in the back, to the appropriate length, and sew them together, to make a bib that slips on over the neck.
When you make bibs yourself you can have them as long or short as you want, the colors and designs you choose, and you can even embellish them. Using paint markers you can draw or write on the bibs and not worry that the designs will vanish in the wash. Make assorted bibs for kids or adults and your eater will be clean and fashionable.