Teething Smock Top

The ladies from two of my favorite blogs make their baby boys smocks to catch all that teething drool.  I've loved these smocks since I first saw them.  I don't think that opinion is shared by anyone in the family (other than Felicity who asked for one for her birthday and examined it as if she was taking mental sewing notes on how it was constructed).  But I'm the one at the machine so I get to pick what gets created there.  :)  Actually, Zac says it's fine and noted its practicality, but asked that Kian doesn't wear it out and about.  :)  We differ in our children clothing style opinions sometimes. 
Anyways, here's Kian in his new smock top....just in time to catch the drool from the FOUR molars wreaking havoc on this poor kid. 

I just love the simplicity of this smock....

....and I love the criss cross back!

This is Kian's "Praise The Lord" move.  :)

I put the smock on him and he looked down at the front patch and started growling like a tiger.  :) 

He loves tigers and lions.

Here comes some drool!!!

If you look closely, you can see wet spots on the smock already.  It's working hard!  You'd be able to see it better if this fabric wasn't so great at masking the wet spots, but that's a plus!

His whole mouth is rimmed in wetness!

I need to fix the neck on the next one I do.  It needs to be higher and the shoulders closer together.

One day he wore this to our friend's house (who loved it....so there, ZAC!) and by the time we left, the WHOLE top half was soaked.  I was glad the poor boy wasn't walking around with half his shirt needing to be wrung out.

I backed it with flannel so the wetness never reaches his shirt.  We have lots of scrap flannel around here!

Melanie from Our Ash Grove and Jules from A Little Crafty Nest each posted tutorials for their version of this smock (HERE's Melanie's tutorial, and HERE's Jules' tutorial).  Each was made a bit differently.  I used Jules' tutorial for my starting point since if was fashioned in a way similar to how I fashion my homemade patterns.  I think the only change I made was that I left a small opening on the bottom edge for turning instead of leaving the whole bottom open as Jules does hers.  Thanks Jules and Melanie for the tutorials and inspiration!