Patchwork bibs and baby shoes

I wish I had time to make handmade baby gifts for all my friends that are expecting new babies. Ideally, I would work on a beautiful elaborate quilt (like the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I made for baby Stella) to match such a monumental addition to the family.

Almost as cool as a personalized quilt, I found this super cute pattern for baby shoes. I know, newborns rarely need to wear shoes, but ithinksew.com has such amazing baby shoe patterns: like this bootie, or these mary janes.  I decided to go simple and do a basic "sneaker" for Magda's baby. A gender neutral green with a padded olive green sole.


The shoes were relatively easy to sew. The last "flip inside out" was a little difficult, mostly because the shoes were so small! The next time I make them I will probably pick a fabric that has a bit of stretch to it for the sole. It will make it much easier to flip inside out.

To match the shoes, I sewed some baby bibs. I scoured the internet for a simple baby bib pattern, and didn't really find one that I liked. There are lots of fancy bib patterns (like the pattern Jenn used for the super adorable baby aprons she made me). But I wanted uber simple. So I just made it up myself. I'm actually going to post a tutorial on how to make the 20-minute bib. Stay tuned on that. Anyone can make one. Uber simple.


The bibs I made were pieced together with various green, brown, and blue fabrics. I don't have a lot of gender neutral fabrics, so patchwork-style worked perfectly to use up some of my smaller scraps. The other side of the bib is a soft flannel.

Lastly, I made a basic rectangular burping cloth. Two pieces of grey flannel with an organic cotton batting in between. I bound it with one of the bib fabrics and then did a little bit of machine quilting to keep the cotton from bunching up when washed.


I love how the three parts came together to make a nice "gift set".  I have a few more friends that are expecting babies soon, so hopefully I can whip up a few more of these simple hand-crafted baby gifts!