Thursday, June 10, 2010

towel wrap dress

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This towel wrap has been on my to-do list for awhile now. The kids and I have two neighbor girls with us during the day and four kids at the pool means I'm carrying too much stuff. Now that Bee and I can wear our towels out gives me two less things to carry.

I based my design on this 3T mermaid towel I made for Bee some time back.


We used one of Bee's beach towels, no need for something new here.


Length: For the 3T version, length was not an issue... the length became a tail. For this one, I just left the width of the towel as the length. It is plenty long on her. If she had been any smaller, I would have needed to shorten it.

Width:
The 3T version that I made for Bee awhile back (in mermaid form) has the width of 29 inches. This one for my now 5T gal ended up being 39 inches across.

Straps:
The straps on the 3T mermaid towel were 11 inches (plus extra inches to allow for sewing it to the towel itself). The 5 T straps started out way too long. They ended up being 11 inches long.

To make the straps, the used the cut off material from the sides. They get folded in thirds and pinned. Zig zag over the raw edge. There is no need to turn the edge under, the zig zag will be fine.

Obviously, you'll need two straps.


Turn over the raw edges from the sides as well. A zig zag line will take care of this as well.

Pin straps in place. It is smart to try the towel on your little person before you sew the straps in place. I measured my gal and had to move the straps two more times still. Sew them in place when you like your placement.


Place velcro. Pin and sew in place. The soft side of the velcro goes on the left in my picture. The hard pokey side goes on the outside right. The velcro needs to be several inches long to allow for growth. It's fine to sew the velcro right over the first part of the strap.

Fold it over and check the velcro placement.

Great to wear to and from the pool. No extra hands from mom needed to carry your towel. Sounds like a win win.



Bee can put it on and get it fastened herself. Perfect.

Bee took pictures of my new towel dress as well. I based mine on the one Dana shared on her blog, Made.
My photographer asked me to act silly.

Wishing I could strut around in this tomorrow at the beach. Sigh. Posing in front of the bathroom door will have to work for now.

I was able to make my straps out of the waste from the edges of the towel. I hoped to add a pocket, but there was not enough towel left over. Too bad. That might of freed up one more hand for mama.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool.

Love Always,
Dad

Anonymous said...

Computer back. The towel coverup is really a great idea. I may try that for the pool. What if an old lady has an accident with a towel wrapped around coming from the pool?

Anonymous said...

It is a cute cover up and very clever. I noticed the comment above about the possibility of having an accident wearing nothing but your swimsuit and coverup...in fact she may be referring to me. :) Well, I've been there - done that. After standing on the side of the road waiting for the police to make their report, I now wear regular clothes - while driving to and from the pool.

Donna said...

this is sortof one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments. My kids always want the towel wrapped around them after the pool or beach but get upset when it inevitably comes loose and falls off. This is the perfect solution and the fact that it is something they can do themselves makes it even better!
thanks for sharing!

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

This is awesome! I am featuring it at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com. Grab my "Featured" button.

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

This is awesome! I am featuring it at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com. Grab my "Featured" button.

Jamie said...

Hi! I'm stopping by from Someday Crafts and I'll definitely be trying this out! I'm not a very confident sewer (as in one who sews not the other kind of yucky sewer) yet, but I think even I could handle this one. Thanks for sharing!!

Kelly @ Make It Sparkly Mama said...

This is awesome, so glad I stumbled onto your blog!

dana said...

your towel dress looks great!
I wish I could have shown mine off at the beach as well :)