Easy Apron or Bib From an Old T-Shirt for Kids and Adults

When my children were little, I had those old plastic bibs that were plastic and hard. I would wipe them down and then let them dry on the back of the high chair. 

As time went on, I had a friend give me a bib she made for her kids out of a dish towel that was more of a hand towel thinking about it. She cut a hole in the top end and sewed some ribbed binding around the inside edge of the circle hole and that was a pull on type of bib. 

It obviously wasn't water proof but after the first year and a half, the kids don't typically spill on themselves when drinking so it really wouldn't need to be. It  was WELL used and you can see by this picture it is quite worn. I had it in the craft room to use as a pattern to make more but never got around to it. Now, I doubt I ever will as I love this new idea better.

When my younger kids were around, they have these pull on type with little sleeves on them and I really liked those as they were plastic on the back but more of a fabric on the front. I still have one of those type but after seeing what Princess One came up with for her kids, I am a believer in this easy method of bibs and aprons for kids and adults! 

She had a favorite t-shirt that she wore for years. She mended it many times but finally, the hole in the back wasn't fixable as the shirt had worn thin. She thought maybe she could still salvage the front so she cut up the back and left strips from the bottom under the arm and from the back of the neck and tied them all up meeting in the center of the t-shirt. 

I would like to take it one step further and leave the sleeves on the shirt and then cut tie strip from the back center in the middle of the back towards the edges and stopping at the side seam making the strips about an inch wide.


Once you have the strips cut,  and able to tie, remove the rest of the back at the side seam leaving the arms on and leaving the neck band uncut so that the t-shirt can just slip on over the head using the uncut neck band from the back of the t-shirt and then you can tie the one in the middle or just leave it hanging as if you leave the arms on, it should stay on fairly well. 

I wish I had seen this before my mother lived with me. She wouldn't sit at the table to eat but liked to eat her meals on the couch on a t.v. tray. She got crumbs and spills everywhere to the point I put down a towel under her, and one on the floor and always put on an apron before she ate. 


This would have been so easy to just slip over her head and have as a huge bib covering her shirt and I could have just thrown them in the wash after. I have so many old t-shirts that would have been great for this.

I think using an old sweatshirt would be great for the messier children as it would be more absorbent so perhaps a stained sweatshirt from an older sibling would make a great bib for the younger child. Oh the possibilities! I think I will need to find a few old sweat-shirts and give it a try! 

I wanted to show you how beat up the old bib I had saved as a pattern is as I found it the other day while cleaning out the sewing room after returning from Princess Ones. 

Have a BLESSED Day!