July 8, 2010

turn old bibs into new wipes

bibs to wipes 1

We have a large basket of well-used bibs at our house. Many of them were hand-me-downs and have kept many a baby and toddler from besmirching their finery over the years. Quite a few of them have been plain old worn out, with velcro that somehow lost its stick, and years' worth of baby food stains that will never wash out.

I hate throwing away useful things, especially baby things which seem to cost so much and function for so short a time. I debated a while about simply sewing new velcro onto these bibs, but the stains on many are so icky (and we have a mountain of bibs that do work), that I decided to make them into wipes instead. You can never have enough wipes, and I feel guilty every time I use a disposable one.

This is a ridiculously easy project. Here's how I made mine:

bibs to wipes 2

1. Cut the tabs off the bibs. I trimmed mine into a pleasing symmetrical shape (symmetry is optional).

bibs to wipes 3

2. Use a decorative stitch around the outside edge to finish the raw edges and make the whole thing look nice. I used mattress stitch. Be sure to use a sharp embroidery needle and a lightweight cotton yarn or crochet thread (mine was leftover cotton sock yarn).

bibs to wipes 4

Voila! Two steps and you've got a tidy pile of re-usable baby wipes, kitchen rags, burp cloths, or washcloths - already pre-stained so you don't need to feel bad about getting them good and dirty.

p.s. Those more adept at sewing than I am could remove the original piping from the discarded part of the bib and trim out the raw edges with that, eliminating the need for the fancy hand-stitching. Totally up to you!

7 comments:

Cat J B said...

Very nice! Because I'm a heathen, I just cut off the tabs and zig zag the raw edges. They work fine, but yours are much, much prettier!

Hayley said...

Awesome idea! I have a drawer full of those same bibs and a toddler who won't keep a bib on.
Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

lisa solomon said...

such a good idea !

i'm thinking maybe of dying some so that the stains aren't so yucky :)

freerangegirl said...

Hi - I just found your blog tonight and now I cant wait for the holidays to have some time and energy to get sewing - I love your blog, great ideas and very inspirational - i'll definitely be back for more!

Natasha said...

what a great idea!

Patricia said...

Thanks for sharing this one, such a great idea!

kerri twigg said...

Guess what I'll be making this afternoon.