Tutorial: Fast and Easy Baby Bib from a Dish Towel

Have you noticed that most baby bibs you buy are absolutely useless? They are so tiny they barely cover 1/3 of the baby's chest. This results in food smeared in all over their clothes! Maybe it's just me, but that is really frustrating! I have a couple of bibs that give full coverage over the shoulders and falls into the lap. These bibs are awesome, but they are difficult to find. Then I realized I could make my own for cheaper and even embellish them in colors and themes I would actually want. I wanted to share this with you. Even if you don't have a baby, this would make a great gift for someone you know who is.

You can use any type of dish towel you would like. After looking at several types and prices I opted for this microfiber material type I found at Walmart. I believe it was $3.88 for this 2 pack. I like the material because it has a nice texture that will grab on to the food. You can certainly pick up cheaper dish towels, but this one had a good weave that didn't look like it would pill or develop a run in the fabric if it was snagged.

I laid my favorite bib over one of the towels for size which turns out to be half of the size. I can get 4 bibs out of the 2 towels!

First cut your towel in half.

Fold over the top portion to cut a circle out for the neck. If you are making this for your own baby you can measure their head and neck to get an accurate size.

Next, sew FOE (Fold Over Elastic) with a zig zag stitch on the neckline, fully stretching the elastic as you sew. You can find FOE at JoAnn's. There is a new brand of cloth diapering products called Babyville Boutique who make really cute colors and prints of FOE.

Take a wide ribbon and pin along the outer edges of the bib. This makes a nice colorful edge and also keeps you from having to finish out the cut edge of the towel by serging.

Sew ribbon on with a straight stitch.

Take your fabric that you are going to cut embellishments from and iron to heat and bond.

Cut out your applique. I used my GO! Baby Rose of Sharon template to cut several flowers. So fast and easy! I love the layers I can create with the flowers.

After you lay out your pieces where you want them, iron them well on the bib. I recommend using a tight zig zag stitch around each applique piece to secure to the bib. I chose not to on this particular one. Either way it looks really cute!