Custom Order: Kylee's Strawberry Shortcake Bib

Kylee's mother sent me a swatch of the fabric being used to make another boutique-style outfit for her. I feel this bib was a great example of coordinating a bib to an outfit that allows the clothing to stand out with a bib that has a personality of its own instead of simply being "matchy-matchy".

Instead of going out and buying an identical measure of yardage of the same fabric, I pulled colors from the fabric and based my bib design on elements in the swatch.

Here is the front side of the bib. If you notice, I chose a green gingham print for the main background that would mimic the square elements in the swatch, and pulled the strawberry design from the fabric and replicated it in applique, as shown in the detail shot below.

I then embroidered around the strawberry top with a darker shade of green to add texture and make the image stand out from the gingham background.

The reverse is raspberry dots on a bubble gum pink background, which matches the dark pink on pink elements in the swatch. I am able to enhance the look of the ensemble and make it more visually appealing by harmonizing the bib with the fabric instead of making a carbon copy (which in a lot of cases with children's clothing, a carbon copy is perfectly fine, but with a very busy fabric like that found in this swatch, it is my opinion that the bib can actually take away from the outfit's look if it matches because it will camouflage the outfit's design).