Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Fabulously Functional Towel Dress

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I love this project! This is my Fabulously Functional Towel Dress. Why? Well, I have 2 adorable little boys. Sometimes getting ready in the mornings can be hectic. I don't like to get dressed until I am completely ready so as to keep the hair, makeup, whatever else seems to be lying around off of my clothing. Problem is, it's tough to keep a wrapped towel on securely when you are chasing 2 busy little bodies around. So this is the solution. Super cute and easy!
All you need for this project is a towel (make sure it is large enough to wrap from one armpit all around to the next armpit), a coordinating hand towel, 1inch wide elastic, velcro, and a sewing machine.
First step is to take the towel and measure from one side of your chest to your opposite armpit. Mine came out to about 13 inches. Now you take your towel and cut 13(or how ever many you measured) inches from each end, leaving the middle of the towel alone for now. This way you don't have to finish any edges.
Next step is to measure from the front of one armpit, around your back, to the front of your other armpit. Now cut the middle piece of towel to this measurement. The next thing to do is to take the hand towel and cut it lengthwise into five 2 1/2 inch strips and then take three of the strips and cut them to the same length as each of your towel pieces as shown in the picture below.
Now fold each of the hand towel strips in half lengthwise and pin to the tops of their coordinating towel pieces and sew across. Do this to all three towel pieces.
Next, take the middle towel piece and lay it out flat. Take your elastic and stretch it from one side of the sewn on hand towel piece to the other. Once the elastic is cut, you want to thread it through the handtowel on top and then sew each end of the towel to secure the elastic into place.
Now take all three pieces and sew them back together. If your towel has a pattern, make sure that it lines up so that it looks real nice and pretty-like :D. Once it is all sewn back together, wrap it around yourself and pin where the crosses over.
This is where you will put your velcro. I recommend getting the adhesive kind so that you can stick it where you want and sew it without having to worry about pins. Make sure that you place the velcros on opposite sides of the towel so that when the towel wraps around you the velcro meets together. I also recommend making sure the rough side of the velcor is facing the outside of the towel so that it doesn't rub on you and irritate your skin. Once stuck on, just sew around the edges to secure in place
Now wrap your towel back on and take your last two handtowel strips and drape them over your shoulder to use as straps and pin them to find the length you need and cut to that desired length.
Now unpin the straps. To sew them, lay them flat and fold lengthwise from each side into the center. Now you take your sewing machine and do a zig-zag stitch down the middle of the strap to close it up. Do this about 7 times to ensure that the strap is closed and also it makes the strap really cute because it flattens down the middle and fluffs up the edges.
Pin the straps back on to your towel and then sew into place, and wha-la! You are done! And don't you feel all secure and ready to conquer the world?
And no, my eggo is not prego in that picture. It's just a bad angle, I swear!

Linking up to: Somewhat Simple - Strut Your Stuff Thursday
The Shabby Chic Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Fireflies and Jellybeans - Show Off Your Stuff Party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday
Life as Lori - Get Your Craft On Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - 100 Ideas Under $100


Creations by Kara



7 comments:

CraftCrave said...

Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [07 Apr 02:00pm GMT]. Thanks, Maria

Ribbonwood Cottage said...

Very cute! What a great idea. Your tutorial was very easy to understand...great job.
Love it...
Deb

Unknown said...

Very cool! I need one for the YMCA!

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

Very cool! Great idea for a swimsuit cover up! : )

Becky@Beyond The Picket Fence said...

What a great and easy project. Love the bright towel too! Thanks for linking up!

Lori said...

I love this! What a great idea!

Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday! Please join me next week for another great party!

Stacey said...

This is so cute. I need this for summer!! Thanks for sharing at 'Look at me, I'm SO Crafty!' at Fun to Craft.

 
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