So this is my first attempt at a how-to so hold on tight and if you have any questions at all please let me know!!! I will answer any and all questions sent my way!
My sister is the head swim coach for an all girls Catholic high school and for her senior gifts she wanted to give them something they could use in college so she thought it would be cool to give them towel wraps that that would be able to use after the shower walking down the dorm hall or even getting ready for class or to go out on the town. All the personalized ones, so that they could be the school colors, that she found were way to expensive for the quality so I explained to her I could make them for around $10.
Fist you need to get your supplies... I went to Target and got their $4.99 basic towels in the solid colors, everywhere around her is basically the same price.
You will need:
- Towel
- Ribbon
- Elastic
- Velcro
- Matching thread
- Ruler (not pictured)
- Straight pins
- Optional: Tailor's marker
The towels I got didn't have a band around the edge so I measured 5 1/4" in from the edge and pinned the ribbon down.
After pinning down and securing both sides I stitched down the ribbon making sure to back stitch and secure the ribbon.
Then I folded over the top of the towel 1 1/4" and pinned down the flap.
Now is where you add the elastic. To measure the elastic I took the end of it and pulled it tight from one side of my rib cage around my back to the other side. Yes, there is velcro in the front but I've had a few of these I've bought from the store that have been WAY too stretchy and don't stay up around my chest and are just a hassle. The elastic ended up measuring about 9" for me. Now you take the towel and wrap it around your upper body (where it would hit you when wearing). You want the front flaps to rest on your chest and the back to hang loose behind you, (*It's easier if you have a buddy to help but I was able to do it on my own*) in the same position where you measured and cut the elastic mark the towel. There should be about 13" or more of towel on each flap.
Now you want to stitch the elastic in the inside the folded over section. ONLY stitch down one side at this moment, be sure to back stitch and re-stich again and again since it will be used a lot! You have 2 options here. I hate elastic so I tried both ways and found the open way was easier for me. I'll explain the closed way first.
CLOSED WAY:
After stitching down the one end of the elastic inside the folded over section, secure a safety pin to the other end and lay it flat inside. Then stitch the flap down until reaching the second mark. Push the safety pin through the tube and stitch the other end of the elastic down. Finish stitching the flap down making sure to secure edges down.
OPEN WAY:
For the open way, after stitching down the first end of the elastic I then fed it un the flap through the pins and stitched down the second end of the elastic. Then I stitched the flap down. When I got to the elastic I had to stop every so often and reposition the elastic and excess towel. It was a hassle, but ironically I found this way to be much simpler, maybe because it was faster and I had to make 6 (ended up making 7, and extra for my sister). If you guys find another way, let me know I'd love to hear!
Your final flap prouct should look something like this:
Finally you attach the Velcro. I cut my Velcro 10" long, that way with the Freshman 15 you never have to worry about it being too tight, or the other way around, if it's too loose. I stitched the soft side on the side that could come in contact with the body and the rough side that would not.
Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the actual final product. So all I have at the moment is a crummy cell phone picture, but I have a feeling I'll be making/selling more of these as graduation gifts for other people (already made/sold 5 so far) so hopefully I'll get a better picture up here for you guys!
