The "Science" of Making Baby Towels

Rules for Weeknight Sewing 

That Ensure More Than 5 Hours of Sleep

1.  Do not wait until the night before the gift is supposed to be given to start making the gift.

2.  Especially do not wait until the night before the gift is supposed to be given if you have a workout scheduled after work and have to go grocery shopping because you have no lunch food to pack and you said that you would make pasta salad for the shower.

3.  Remember that even though the embroidery machine is very slick and does most of the sewing itself, you still have to fiddle with the proper placement in the hoop and babysit it to change threads and make sure you are there when the needle breaks (two times in this little project).  All of this takes time.

Baby Blanket for a New Little Cutie

That said...I am really happy with how the science themed towel came out.

 My friend is a Chemistry teacher - hence the test tubes, etc- and the crossed swords are our school's logo.

The towel itself goes together pretty quickly.  

1.  Make the hood:

The hood is a wash cloth folded leaving about a 1 inch tab hanging down to sew to the body of the towel.  Zigzag or serge a seam sewn diagonally from the opening edge to 2 inches into the folded side.  Cut off the little triangle of fabric that is outside the seam.  

2.  Pleat the towel:

I like to make a little pleat in the middle of the back of the main towel so I fold the towel in half and then sew a seam about 1 1/2 in from the fold and down about 4 inches.  I flatten out the folded fabric on either side of the pleat seam and then zigzag down the center to attach. 

3.  Attach the hood:

The final step is to center the hood flap on the towel on the pleated side and zigzag around the edges of the hood. I have the folded pleat and the hood flap on the inside of the towel.

Hooded Baby towel complete!

I'm planning to make another of these soon so I'll post some how-to pictures.  It was getting so late last night that I wasn't thinking straight!