sewcreatelive: Child's Towel Bib

Child's Towel Bib

Trace the pattern onto tissue paper. Fold the towel in half lengthwise.

Pin the pattern onto the towel by matching the fold line of the pattern with the fold line of the towel. You may want to have more of the towel in the front than the back. A minimum of four inches for the back towel length is suggested.

Cut the neck opening out of the towel.

Measure the neck opening. Cut the ribbing so that it measures 3/4 the length of the neck opening measurement plus 1/2 inch. The width of the ribbing should be 2 - 3 " wide.

Fold the ribbing in half (right sides together) and sew the center back seam which is 2 - 3" long. The seam allowance will be 1/4". The ribbing should form a circle.

Press the seam allowances flat and then fold the ribbing in half, wrong sides together.

Divide the neck opening in fourths, marking center back, center front, and the two shoulders. Divide the ribbing in fourths. Center back will be the seam and the opposite end will be center front. Fold the ribbing in half again so the two pins lie on top of each other. Mark the other two folds with a pin or a small dot with a fabric marking pen.

Put the ribbing inside the bib opening, right sides together, matching the ribbing seam to the back of the bib circle. Match the center front pin of the ribbing with the center front pin of the neck opening. Match the shoulder seam pins of the neck opening with the other two pins in the ribbing.

Stretch the ribbing to match between pins and add more pins all around the circle.

You may now serge around the neckline, starting at the back and cutting off 1/8" fabric. If you feel more comfortable, you may sew your seam first on the sewing machine on the 3/8" seamline.

Serge all the way around the neck opening to the place where you started. Continue serging about one inch, overlapping the first row of stitching. (You will have two rows of stitching on top of each other for about one inch.) Be sure NOT to cut off any of the stitches from the first row. Remember the blade will cut off anything to the RIGHT side of the metal plate. (You could turn the blade knob to LOCK.) After over-stitching about one inch, gently angle the fabric to the left out of the way of the blade and needles. Soon there won't be any fabric feeding under the needles. Continue to stitch until a three inch tail forms. Cut the thread leaving the three inch tail attached to the bib. (Be sure to leave about one inch tail still attached to the needles of the serger. Otherwise the serger will come unthreaded.)