Hand Towel Baby Bib (Applique Design) Transform a soft and absorbent terrycloth hand towel into a no-fuss baby bib! Simply follow these steps to see how to create your own easy-to-launder bib with a too-cute applique design. Project Needs & Notes: - Terrycloth hand towel (or about 3/8 yard terrycloth) - 3/8 yard polyester/polyurethane laminated fabric (also called PUL; for back) - Medium-weight (2.5 oz) cutaway stabilizer - Lightweight water-soluble stabilizer for topping (Sulky Solvy or Super Solvy) - Temporary spray adhesive (like Gunold KK100) - Air-erase pen for marking - Snaps and snap tool The design featured in this tutorial include: - Y3996, Peeking Owl (Applique) Finished Size 8" x 9 1/4" Begin by printing a PDF of the pattern. The pattern is in two parts which will print on two sheets of 8 1/2" by 11" paper.
Cut out the pieces and tape them together. Lay the hand towel flat and place the pattern piece on top. Pin the pattern in place. Use an air-erase pen to trace the shape of the pattern onto the terrycloth. A template is a printout of a design, and it's an excellent tool to plan where to stitch. Print a template of the design from your embroidery software. If you do not have embroidery software, Wilcom's TrueSizer is a free program to use. Align the bottom edge of the template with the line drawn on the terrycloth, leaving the 1/2" space in between the template and the bottom edge of the shape. Center the template between the sides. Mark the center point of the design, as well as the vertical
and horizontal axis lines. Remove the templates and draw lines connecting the marks. Cut a piece of cutaway stabilizer larger then the hoop, and lay the terrycloth on top. Place a piece of lightweight water-soluble stabilizer on top of the terrycloth. Hoop all three layers together, lining up the marks on the fabric with the marks on the hoop. When you download an applique design, you'll find multiple files. One is the embroidery file, and the others are dieline files, marked with the letters DL. Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the right shape and size. Open the dieline files with embroidery software and print them. Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive and smooth the fabric on top.
Spray the backside of the front piece dieline with temporary spray adhesive and smooth onto the fabric. Cut out the shapes and remove the paper. Attach the hoop to the machine and embroider the design. A size 11 or 75/11 embroidery needle is a fine choice when embroidering on terrycloth. The first thing to sew will be a dieline, or outline stitch. This marks the area on the stabilizer for the front fabric piece.
Spray the backside of the front felt piece with adhesive. Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Place the fabric piece right inside the sewn dieline. Reattach the hoop onto the machine and continue with the design -- a zigzag stitch tack down will sew next. This binds the fabric piece to the stabilizer.
All of the inner elements will sew next, followed by a satin-stitch border. After embroidering, trim the excess stabilizer away from the back. Gently tear away the watersoluble stabilizer from the front. Cut out the shape of the bib.
To cut a piece of PUL for the back, lay it flat with the right side (soft side) facing up. Flip the paper pattern piece over, wrong side up. Lay it on top of the PUL. Pin in place. Trace the shape. Remove the pattern, and cut out the bib shape. Align the embroidered terrycloth and PUL pieces together, right sides together. Pin in place. Sew a 1/4" seam along the outer edges of the fabric, leaving at least 4" open along the right side. When you reach the embroidery design along the bottom edge, sew a 1/8" seam directly under the bottom edge of the design. Turn the bib right side out. Press the seams with an iron, and use a pressing cloth. Turn the fabric of the opening in 1/2" and press. Top stitch a 1/8" seam along the outer edges of the bib starting and stopping at the outer edges of the design (it is not necessary to top stitch under the design). Add the top portion of the snap to the front side of the bib about 1/2" from the end of the strap.
Add the bottom portion of the snap to the front side of the bib at the right top tab about 1/2" from the top edge of the tab. This project is featured on the Embroidery Library Pinterest page. Pin it yourself using the "Pin It" button on this page. Questions or comments? Let us know! Send an email to us; the address is stitch@emblibrary.com.