Towel Bib

Valerie asked how I made the two bibs I showed in the last post, so here's a quick tutorial. This is pretty basic sewing, so I'm not going into much detail, just giving a general idea.

You start with a hand towel, about 16 x 24 inches, and cut it in half, crosswise. It's better to use one without the plain-weave band, but I just ignored the band and appliqued over it this time. I use a purchased bib as a template for the neck, but if you don't have one, the opening is approximately a 4" diameter circle.



Then you can decorate as you choose. There are lots of options, but for this I was using up a little piece of rather poor quality fabric that I got in an exchange. To make this oddly shaped applique around the cat, I put a piece of muslin on top of the image, drew around the shape I wanted with fabric marker, and then stitched on the line. Then I trimmed around the stitching, leaving 1/4 allowance, and slit the muslin to turn it right side out. After turning and pressing, I trimmed the excess fabric away leaving 1/2 inch seam allowance, pinned the image to the bib, and stitched it down.






For binding, I cut a bias strip 2 1/4", folded it in half and stitched it to the front of the neck. You can use purchased binding, too, but I think this kind works better actually. The curve is rather sharp, and so this is a little tricky, but there aren't any quilt police here, so if it bunches a bit, it's ok. Then I folded the binding over to the wrong side and pressed it. I did use Sharon Schamber's technique of putting a line of Elmer's School Glue on the seam allowance, and then pressing down the binding. This holds it securely and evenly so that you can stitch-in-the-ditch on the right side easily. Then, add velcro strips for closing, wash it to get out the glue and be sure it's clean for the baby, and there you are.



They're great bibs: big and thick enough to sop up lots of STUFF, and the extra size is also good for wiping the face.