Thursday, June 19, 2008

Tote-able Towels

When I had stumbled upon this tutorial I thought it would be a fast and easy project to make for the boys. Well, it would have been both if you weren't me - ha! With that said, Henry just LOVES to carry his towel to the pool and John ... well ... he just loves whatever Henry loves. (so sweet! That is until they start playing tug of war with a toy and someone ends up bleeding and screaming ... )

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I was impatient (imagine that) and wanted to get the pics taken before little boys could use them as weapons (ok - they're really not that bad - the kids - not the pics - they are bad).

Henry wanted footballs and an orange towel. John got what I wanted. All is fair in love and sewing ...


100% cotton towels from Wal-Mart. Fabric in stash.


So. What did I learn? Cute project. Kids will like. And ... the rest of the story:

  1. Use a denim needle. It gets really thick in the corners.

  2. Use the zig-zag stitch. Definitely helps reinforce where the 'loops' are and to make sure you catch all the fabric on the other side.

  3. Make sure your fabric is lined up on each side. I thought it was on both towels and it wasn't. Any tips out there? I'm sure it's a no brainer but somehow I'm not there ...
  4. I added an extra 'loop' on Henry's towel (see picture above). I had made John's first and of course Henry had to demo it. He nearly tripped over the tie. I didn't realize until that moment that the big loop would be a tripping hazard. I added the second loop so I could at least run the long loop through both to get it off the ground - make sense?

Finally I would actually put the big loop closer in - more like 10 inches vs the 12-14 inches she recommends. I did 12 and it seems to wide for such little folks. Same consideration with how long the long loop is. Henry wears his over his shoulder across his chest to make it the right length. Henry and John don't seem to mind ... and that's all that matters to me!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! Thanks for finding the project and sharing. Would make a great gift too!

UK lass in US said...

Those look great.

Maybe if you roll the towel a wee bit tighter, you can wrap the long loop around twice, if it's too long? A loop to adjust it would make it easier for the towel to grow with the kids.

periwinkle said...

Good idea, I'm sewing with orange at the minute too, it's Milo's favourite colour
Lisa x

Kris said...

So cute Adrienne! Great job!

angie.a said...

Wow that's a great idea! Thanks for the tute link! :D

Paige said...

Great job!

Anonymous said...

Oh, thanks for the link! I have been wanting to make something like this. I get tired of lugging 4 beach towels to the pool all summer! You did a great job, and I appreciate your tips.