DIY Bath Towel Apron

Evan has reached that stage of still being too small (and slippery) to sit up in the big tub but just big enough to know how to soak the entire bathroom (and me) with all her splashing during bathtime.  I've needed a solution for a while now but just finally got around to it.  I had posted a link to another tutorial for a bath apron earlier this month, but I decided to just make it myself and keep it a little more simple while still adding a hood for keeping my baby's head warm.  Here's how you can make your own for cheap, cheap, cheap.

Supplies Needed:

Standard Bath Towel--I got mine on sale at Walmart this week for $1.50.
Coordinating Sturdy Ribbon
Sewing Machine & Basic Supplies

Directions:

1. Hold your towel up against you and decide how high you want the bib of the apron to go, how wide you want it, and where you want the skirt to begin. Mark these places with pins.

2. Lay your marked towel on a cutting mat and cut away the excess fabric from the top sides of your apron.  Leave the skirt part as wide as possible.  Keep those cut away parts.

3. In the corner of where the bib and skirt of the apron meet, cut a 1" diagonal.  I forgot to take a pic of this, but it's a small step that makes sense when you do it, or doesn't hurt much if you forget.

4. Turn your apron over (if you have a front or back to your towel depending on any designs. Mine didn't so it doesn't matter), and fold the cut edges under 1/2 " and then over again 1/2" to encase the frayed terry.  Pin the tucked and rolled sides and press flat as possible.  Sew both sides of bib and tops of apron skirt.

5. Measure out how long you want the neck ties and waist ties to be, depending on your size.  Add 1.5" to each for space to attach the ribbon.  Heat seal the ends of your ribbon by holding a lighter near (but not too close) the edges of the ribbon.  Pin your necktie ribbons on to each outside corner of the bib.  I did this on top so the attaching shows, but you can do it on the underside if you don't like the look.

6. Sew a square and then a criss cross to attach the ribbons to the the ends of the apron at the top of the bib and at each side of the skirt.

7. Grab those discarded terry pieces and choose one bottom corner to sew on a hood.  Lay the terry rectangle across the bottom corner, leaving about a 1.5" gap at the bottom.  Cut your terry piece to make a large triangle, leaving 1" hanging over for hemming. 

8. Take an extra piece of ribbon (or cut an a few inches off the waist tie) to sew across the corner of the extra terry piece. I did this for three reasons: 1.) to make it look pretty, 2.) so I could find the hooded corner more easily, and 3.) to make the hood a little bit larger because my scrap was a little small.  Sew it to the extra hood piece.

9. Lay your hood top back over the bottom corner, leaving 1.5" for hemming.  Turn it over and roll and tuck like you did to hem the rest of the apron. Press and sew.

That's it.  You will be dry and won't have to struggle with holding a towel up on your shoulder while trying to wrangle a slippery baby anymore.  Plus, you can cuddle up your baby in the extra long towel skirt and keep her precious little head warm too.

By the way, I left the waist ties long and just wrapped it all the way back around the front here in this pic.  And yes, this is how I am dressed late at night after being home with the kids all day.