Upcycled Collared Terry Towel Bibs Tutorial

The boy is almost 3 years old and we needed more industrial strength terry cloth bibs.  These are so handy for busy toddlers because they catch and absorb a lot and can be used to mop up a table when something gets knocked over and spilled, etc.  Our carpet has never been the same since bringing a child home but he is worth it and these sure help!  These get used every day and they are upcycled from used items which makes them green and thrifty as well as useful.

Saver's had a great selection of terry cloth hand towels and I snatched some up.  I still had left over ribbed shirts from the last batch I made in a rainbow of colors for the collars.  I know I've written about these before, but for anyone new, don't bother trying to buy ribbing at the fabric stores.  At Joann's, and believe me I LOVE Joann's, they only had 6 colors available, it was spendy, and they were always sold out both in-store and online.  The coworker who made my originals shared her genius trade secret: buy ribbed shirts at Saver's and cut them up.  You get way more fabric for what you spend and can get a much wider variety of colors.

The three pictured above were kind of ho-hum towels with simple collars attached.  This towel had great visual appeal because of the fabric weave and I was thrilled to have a coordinated rib for the collar.

I was particularly proud of this one because of the matchy matchy collar and trim purchased in Las Vegas at Heddy's Fabrics.  Many hand towels have a border woven into the fabric that cries out for embellishment with trim.  You can see the original towel border from the other end of the towel through the collar.

I loved the color combination of fuchsia and lime and happened to have another fabulously coordinated trim from Heddy's.  This one was much more feminine so I decided to give it to my dear friend Nancy for her granddaughter.  She has another grand baby due this summer and wanted the pattern for making these.  There isn't really a pattern that I use so I decided to take pictures of the process and show all of you how to make them.

Recycling at it's finest!  Here is a ribbed shirt and I'm cutting off both the front and back layer for 2 panels that are 4.5 x 8 inches. 

Here are the two layers stacked on top of one another.  Now I am going to use a 1/2" seam on either short end to make a wide tube of fabric.

I press the seams open a little just to make them lie flat and be a little easier to work with.

Now fold the entire tube in half lengthwise so that the seams are hidden on the inside and all the cut edges are together.  Lay the folded tube so that the two seams are lined up on top of each other.

 

With the two seams aligned, make a mark on either edge along the cut side--I used a chalk pencil here.  We need to have 4 quadrants marked on this fabric collar--two are the seams and two are the marks we made on either edge.  Folding in half is a great trick for finding the middle of pieces when sewing.  Now our collar is ready to attach and we can turn our attention to the towel.

Much of this project involves eyeballing.  The neck hole is place about 1/3ish of the way down the length of the towel.  I also want to point out that the tag is at the top of the bib.  No one will see it when it hangs over the back of the child's shoulders.  It really doesn't matter, but it bugs me when I see the tag in the front on other bibs I've made.  That circle is just a 6" circle I traced with a compass and cut out.  I folded it in half and drew a line down the fold line to help me line it up on my towel.  I folded the towel in half and placed the pattern line on the fold of the towel so I could pin one half of the circle.  It does not have to be exact!

Unfold the towel and pin the other half of the paper circle in place.  Here is a full towel shot to better show you the placement of the hole.  Cut out and remove the circle.  You'll notice that I like to have a long bib with these.  I like when it drapes on Marek's lap.  These things can catch and contain a bowl of oatmeal when needed, so length is good.  You just need enough on the top part to drape over the shoulders.

Here is one of my favorite parts of the project!  What could you do with these terry cloth circles?  I feel bad throwing them away!

Since you are cutting through terry cloth, you are going to get all kinds of loop snips all over your cutting area.  This is your life now.

Fold the towel in half lengthwise and mark the top and bottom of the circle edges on the fold.

Now fold the top of the towel down as best you can and again mark the circle edges on the fold line.

We've made a kind of compass rose on our neck hole with 4 quadrants marked.

Remember the quadrants we marked on our collar piece?  We are going to match those up and pin them to the neck hole.  With the right side of your towel facing up, pin both layers of the unfinished cut edges of the collar to the towel at the four marked points of the compass rose.  Here I have West and South pinned and it doesn't seem too bad.

Here I have all 4 points pinned and this is where people get intimidated.  Sewing is making 3D things out of 2D planes so you have to think abstractly.  Take a deep breath and proceed.

We are going to work one quadrant at a time.  In this picture, the outer pins are on our compass rose.  Stretch the ribbing to align with the edge of the terry cloth towel and pin in the middle.  You can see the terry cloth puckering in the background.  This is normal and OK, don't let it bother you.  We will pin it into submission!

Here is the same area with pins between the quadrant pins and center pin.  We have wrangled it under control and it is behaving much better.  The power of pins!  Now we will turn the bib a quarter turn and do the same to the next quadrant and so on around the neck.

Here is the wrong side of the bib with the collar pinned on.  It looks much more manageable and neat once we pinned all those curves.  You can also see the edges of the collar and the terry cloth laying together which is where we are going to stitch.

With the right side of the towel facing up, position the bib so that the fabric edges are resting together in a sort of tube. 

Lay the edges of this tube on your sewing machine and position your foot and needle.  A clue as to how to turn the fabric is the position of the pins.  You always want your pins on TOP.  If we'd sewn it as it appeared from the wrong side of the towel, the pins would be on the underside and could damage the sewing machine.  Stitch a 1/2" seam around the entire circle of the neck.

I like to use my #17 overlock type stitch.  It uses a running stitch on the left and a zig zag on the right to help catch cut fuzzy edges and then I don't trim any seam allowance.  I serged my first batch of these bibs and as nice as the trimmed edge looked, my seams tended to disintegrate and required patching and repairs.  If you don't have a stitch like this, a simple zig zag will be fine but I would go over it twice.

Here is what the stitch looks like when finished.  You'll notice that my edges weren't exactly matched and perfect, but guess what?  It's ok!

When you turn that collar up, the right side of the seam hides all your sins and it looks neat and clean!  And now you have a finished terry bib!  You can embellish these with trim or patches or fabric paint. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  The boy and I made some valentines a few weeks ago with some paper doilies I've had for years for just such a project.  He loves stickers but has to be supervised or they'd be all over the walls.  We mailed these to our parents and my siblings as well as my uncle Doug.

I've hoarded stickers my entire life and am excited to share them with him but it drives me crazy that he stacks them one on top of the other instead of spreading them out!  Oh well.  I would be thrilled to get something like this in the mail.  I cooked a sweetheart dinner for my two men yesterday out of some ribs I'd had in the freezer for a while with mashed potatoes, baked beans from scratch, steamed broccoli and biscuits.  Today we are enjoying leftovers and maybe we'll have some take out for supper.

And did I mention it is butt cold here?  We've had SUCH a mild winter thus far but we couldn't escape some arctic temperatures. There was talk we'd break the record for a coldest high temperature this weekend.  Overnight we are expecting -20 something.  This picture was taken weeks ago during a heat wave when it was 30 degrees above zero.  I thought it was such a Minnesota picture of Dave maintaining the drive.  Another heat wave will move in mid-week bringing temps in the teens.  This is great weather to hole up at home, bake and snuggle which is perfect for Valentine's Day.  

Dave and my mother got their first vaccine shots this week, my in-laws got their first last week and I had my second shot weeks ago.  Keep at it and keep inquiring, logging on, trying, etc.  GET YOUR VACCINE!  It is safe.  The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to normal.  Stay safe and warm!  Happy Valentine's Day!