Welcome to the Burnside Bibs shortened bib hack!

I made these hacked black Burnside Bibs about a year ago, but never found time to blog about them until now. I thought this was the perfect time to publish this pattern hack so it could release along with our new free, alternate pocket expansion for the pattern.

In this tutorial, I've made the curved bib and shortened it so that it looks more like suspenders than bib overalls. I also took the legs of this version in a little bit so they aren't quite so wide and are a bit straighter. I've shown you how to achieve that as well. The top photo is the cropped version with the new, squared off alternate pocket. I've also made an ivory full length version that I've shown further down in the middle of this post.

Below is BeckyJo's version and she made a barrel leg hem that I will attempt to show you at the end of this post. 

These are all fairly simple hacks. Let's get started!

 

First, determine how much you want to shorten the bib. I shortened mine 4 inches and I think BeckyJo's bib is a little shorter than mine, she took out about 4 3/4". Remember that the entire bib won't be visible once it's sewn up because the waistband covers the bottom portion of it so... you will want to do all of the shortening between the front neck and the side underarm.

 

Fold the lower line of the pattern (or cut and tape) so that it meets the upper line you drew and tape in place. 

 

Tape some scrap paper behind the pattern at the underarm area. Redraw the underarm seam. Start from the strap join down to the side seam. 

* If you are bustier or want to be sure that the straps are a little more to the side rather than right over your bust, you could move the strap joins out to the sides a bit - like maybe 3/8".

 And that's it for the bib portion. Go ahead and sew them just like you would for the regular sized bib. 

 

And now for straightening the legs. 

Here is my full length version. The legs appear narrower than my black pair because the fabric is more rigid. The black pair is made of a linen/rayon blend fabric that has some drape while the natural pair is a twill cotton that is more stable and stiff. 

Side Front Pant- I took the sides of the Front Pant in 1/2" at the bottom to 0" at the notch around the hip. I used a straightedge to draw from the bottom up to the lower notch where the pocket attaches. 

Inseam Front Pant- For the inseam, I took about 1" off the inner leg and drew from the bottom hem up to to 0" at the crotch. I used a curved ruler to redraw the inseam. 

 

I kept the ruler straight or parallel to the inseam from the bottom hem to the lengthen/shorten line and then started to use the curve from there up to the crotch on the inseam. 

 

Side Back Pant- For the Back Pant, I also took the side in 1/2" from the bottom hem but extended 1 1/2" above the notch at the hip. 

Inseam Back Pant- For the inseam on the Back Pant, I took the bottom hem in 1" and used a straightedge to draw a parallel line 1" away from the bottom inseam up to the lengthen/shorten line and then from there I started to curve the seam to 0" at the crotch. 

Of course you will want to walk your Front and Back side seams and inseams to be sure they still align. Remember that the Back Pant is longer at the waist than the Front Pant because the Bib will be extending that front. You only need to walk the side seams from the lower notch to the hem. 

 

And now for BeckyJo's barrel leg hack. 

 

Figure out where you want your hem to land (it's best to have the hem slightly cropped so the barrel shape doesn't get lost dragging on the floor or humped over the bridge of your foot).

Bring the bottom pant hem in 1 inch and draw a slight curve from that 1" in point to zero at about 5 inches up from the hem.

Make the same adjustments for both the Front & Back Pant hem on both the inseam and outseam hem.

Add a 3/8" seam allowance at the bottom. 

Then trace the bottom hem and make a 2 inch Hem Facing with a 3/8" seam allowance on the top and bottom of the facing. 

After you have sewn up your pant legs, stitch the front and back Hem Facings together at the side seams and inseams. Then turn down the top edge of the Facing 3/8" and press. Attach the Hem Facing to the pant hem in the round, aligning the bottom raw edges. Stitch together with a 3/8" seam allowance. Press the facing towards the inside and edge stitch it down from the inside. 

And you're done! We'd love to see your hacked Burnside Bibs on Instagram. #burnsidebibs, #sewhouse7.

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

XOXO,

Peggy