Can we talk about babies for a second? I know that I have this cute little picture of my baby on the left, but let me tell you -- looks are deceiving. I'm not sure where that cute little girl was today, but she was not with me at my Dr. appointment or at my lunch date. I had a completely different child with me - one that cries and screams and throws cups at her mommy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of sippy cups, but not when they are being chucked at my head by a sixteen month old - especially MY sixteen month old. I had one of those moments where I contemplated A. crawling under the table or B. hauling her fanny outside of the restaurant and telling her all the reasons that throwing her cup is a bad idea. My poor friend (who has no kiddos) looked at me horrified by the entire charade. Any suggestions on how to get my sweet child back? This was a first for me today and well, I just don't like it! And yes, I know the twos are coming -- I am scared.
Okay before we start this fun little project I need to confess, I didn't do a lot of note taking on the measurements because I held it up to Macie and used her coat for reference. I would suggest you do the same since I am not much help in measuring! Disclaimer done, here we go -- Find a beach towel that you like (I got this beauty at Wal Mart for a big fat $1.) Fold the towel in half (end to end) and lay the towel down with the fold on top. I cut about 3" off the bottom of the folded towel based on Macie's height. After lopping off the bottom I folded the towel again (side to side) to find the center of the towel at the top (the fold). Since I have an addiction to pins, I put one in the dead center and unfolded the side to side fold. This left the towel folded once with the fold at the top. Have I confused you yet? I hope not.
I do remember the measuring on this part. I placed a pin 3" on either side of the center pin and cut a neck hole into the fold. I know the hole looks way too small, bear with me. Because I am pinning happy, I pinned down both sides of the towel so it would be nice and flat to start the next step.
Here is where my lack of measuring comes in. I grabbed one of Macie's coats and lined it up with the top of the towel. I took a hint from my christmas stockings and just traced the jacket sleeves and body with a sharpie. Once I had the lines traced, I pinned around the lines (only because I am a weirdo) and then sewed along the lines. That's right folks, I literally have to sew along the line. I also double stitched at the edges to make sure they were secure. You now essentially have a giant towel shirt with a head hold that is too small. Good job. Let's move on.
Since you now have the sleeves sewn, you just need to trim them up so they look like sleeves. Be careful as you trim them because you will need a couple of those pieces in a second. After you have trimmed both sides of the sleeves, take two of the waste pieces and trace a hood onto the pieces. For some reason I traces it on both sides, I don't know what I was thinking. Trace it on one side and then pin the two pieces together (right sides facing each other) and sew along the line, making sure to keep the bottom of the hood open, and trim just like you did with the sleeves (way easier). Sit the hood aside and grab your inside out towel shirt. Find the middle (as you can see, I used the marker again) and cut it down the middle. This officially makes your shirt into a robe. Yay! Here is the trickiest part of the whole project, sew the hood onto your newly created robe. I did this by turning the robe right-side (as well as the hood) and pinning the right sides together and sewing carefully, trying to make sure that I had the hood centered onto the robe. Ta Da!! A hooded robe... sort of.
At this point you technically have a robe, but it has a bunch of unfinished edges and I didn't love it so I went in search of something better. I wanted something thicker than bias tape so blanket trim was perfect! It is nice and thick and also already folded so it is much easier to add to the edges. I have no amazing tips on how to attach this to the robe. I slipped the edge of the robe into the trim (in between the fold) and of course, pinned it down. Once I had it pinned down nicely all the way around I just stitched it down. At the very top of the robe on either side (by the hood) I folded the cut ends down as I was stitching so the edge would look a little cleaner.
We're almost done, I promise! Stick with me. Remember the bottom of the towel that we cut off way back in the beginning? Grab those pieces. I sewed them together, end to end and folded them right side together (side to side) and pinned them to make a giant snake of towel. After sewing the tube together, turn it right side out (this is a slow process because you are sort of turning a tube inside out). I stitched the two ends down to make it a little more secure but now you have a robe tie! You can tack it to the back of the robe if you want to insure it doesn't get lost. Macie was asleep while I was finishing this so I couldn't measure out where her waist would fall to tack it, I plan to do it though.
We are all ready for the beach now --- or a prize fight depending on the day. ;)
Can you tell she was a little over the picture taking??
But aren't baby feet the cutest??
