Need a gift “Pronto”? 5 Steps to Betty-Jo’s Pasta Bibs!

Posted on May 22 2014 - 10:19am by Jessi Meehan

Having featured our Italian Dinner not too long ago, as well as reminiscing about my High-school Graduation, we couldn’t wait to share this unique and classic Italian gift idea! One of our long time friends and readers, Betty Jo, gave my mom a gift almost 20 years ago that made such a lasting impression, we just had to pass it along! BJ created Pasta Bibs, which are very easy to craft up, and she packaged them with tomato sauce cans that doubled as candles! As Betty Jo told us, you can also package these bibs up with pasta tins full of pasta spoons, or even give them along with a set of pasta plates as a “different” house-warming gift! We adore “adorning” our table with them!

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We use these bibs every time we have an Italian themed meal, as they are a key pieces of decor to tie in a European feel to our table, and for our guests. We’ve been getting compliments on them for 2 whole decades! How to make them? EASY! All you need to get started are:

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– A few yards of checkered or red and white gingham fabric
– Red Seam Binding 
– Red Thread for sewing
– Scissors for cutting your pattern

– Washable marker to trace your bib pattern
– A Stencil for your letters
– Black permanent Marker or Black Fabric Paint
– White or Brown Butcher’s Paper to create your bib pattern

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1. Our bibs are “vintage”, and nowadays there are several options for shapes and sizes of bib patterns out there, so be sure to find one that will fit just right! We found an awesome bib pattern from “With Heart and Hands” blog, HERE! You can see the full post HERE, where she also explains how to make them a bit longer if you’d like! You can use a dinner plate and a saucer to round out the edges of your bib, and while these bib patterns feature an attached neck or optional “collar”, you can round off the tops of the bibs themselves to not include the “neck piece” or collar. We’ll be using longer pieces of seam binding to create a tie for around the neck…like so:

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2. Once you’ve got your bib pattern cut out, follow along the entire outside edge of the bib with your red seam binding. Be sure to have the smaller or shorter side of the seam binding folded along the front edge of your bibs, so that once you sew along the entire edge, your thread will “catch” along the back side. Make sure to leave enough seam binding on each end of the bib to include as your neck tie!

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3. Use your sewing machine to sew a hem along the entire length of the edge of the bib…following along the seam binding as your guide. 

4. Arrange your PASTA stencil in order carefully in the middle of your bib, and use your permanent fabric marker or black fabric paint to spell out P-A-S-T-A! You’re almost done!

5. Let your marker or paint dry, and once they’re ready…you can carefully roll up each bib to place inside your pasta tins, or tomato cans to package up your gift! You could even give this gift with everything a family needs to create the Practically Perfect Italian Dinner! Check out our recipes HERE!

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Thank you so much Betty Jo, for sharing your “out of the can” gift idea with us, and we can’t wait to see how our readers make out with it! Hey readers…send us your comments or photos so that we can feature how YOURS turned out! Que Bella!