Series 9: Old Towel New - Bath Puppet

Ah yes... Here we are. 'Tis the final chapter in the Old Towel New saga. With only scraps and dregs left over from the other towel projects I barely managed to scrape together this sweet double-duty bath puppet. See? It can serve as both a toy and a soft washcloth. The little ones can simultaneously have fun AND get sparkly clean. Handy, no?

Here's the how-to:

I made a simple newspaper template as below and cut out 2 of the large pieces and 4 of the circles.

I sewed two pairs of circles together, leaving a gap for turning. I then zigzagged around all edges of the two large pieces. I snipped the edges of the two circles (ears) and turned them inside out.

I cut a piece of freezer paper big enough to accommodate a face for my puppet and ironed it to one of the large pieces. I drew the face. [Note: I used freezer paper because it's difficult to transfer a design onto towel with all those nubblees hanging about.] Now, using a running stitch and embroidery needle and thread, I outlined my design directly through the freezer paper. I then carefully, very very carefully, removed the freezer paper. Finally, I went over the entire outline with a back stitch. Oh yes, and I used satin stitch for the tiny myopic eyes.

To put the puppet together, I placed the circles (ears) onto the face as shown below, and then put the other large piece on top and pinned the layers together. I machine-stitched around the perimeter just inside the zigzagged edge, leaving the bottom open. I stitched one last zigzag around that bottom edge to finish it off neatly. Finally, I flipped the whole thing inside out and...

Behold! One fine play 'n wash bath puppet:

That Terry... He's hilarious.

♥M

The rest of the Old Towel New series: mop pad, washcloths, soft watchband, car sponge, oven mitt.

Series 9: Old Towel New - Oven Mitt

Dare I say it again? That old grey towel has come in handy once more. This is the fifth towel project I've made and she may yet have another in her. Not bad for an ancient (and standard-size) bath towel, eh?

For this installment of Old Towel New I referred to Chris's lovely Oven Mitt Template and Tutorial. I highly recommend it. I followed her directions as written with only these few tiny changes: use of an old towel (obvious), straight-line quilting, and a slightly different hanger placement. Also, I didn't have any basting spray so I used straight pins instead. It all worked really really really really well. Don't know why, but I was actually scared of making an oven mitt. True fact. But you know what? It was a piece of cake thanks to Chris.

My old battered oven mitt (which this new one is replacing) could only be described as grody. A fitting description I assure you. So I'm overjoyed with the upgrade. I'd been meaning to make a new mitt since time immemorial and wondered if the towel fabric would do the trick. I'm happy to report that it was ideal. In fact, I think I'm in love with this mitt and its towelly texture. I'm tempted to use it as a pillow. Good idea eh?

Thanks for your most excellent directions Chris!

Other posts in the Old Towel New series: mop pad, washcloths, soft watchband, car sponge.

Have yourself a lovely evening!

♥M

Series 9: Old Towel New - Car Sponge

Another quiet addition to the "Old Towel New" series... The old grey towel is slowly morphing into a number of different items. Today's offering: wash your car in luxury (and give your sponge a longer life) with this covered car sponge!

Find other old towel projects here, here and here.

Have a lovely weekend!

♥M

Series 9: Old Towel New - Soft Watchband

Hey, it's the third installment of Old Towel New! Welcome welcome!

This time a repair was in order. The Boy's watchband was busted and needed fixing. He loves his watch and I'd been meaning to do this for some time. Ages, actually. He has sensitive skin (gets that from me) so I wanted something soft and un-scratchy to replace the old hook and loop watchband. But what to use? What oh what?

Enter the old towel. Note that I'm still using the same old towel as for the other two projects here and here. That thing is coming in darn handy! Good thing I like grey, eh? Or is it blue? Grey, methinks... I used one of the bands that's near each end of the towel. Most towels have these, I think. You know which bands I mean, right?

So I cut one of those bands off and collected a few other supplies: elastic, watch face, scrap of fabric to match. Then I took those two spring-loaded doo-hickeys off the back of the watch face. I then installed a piece of elastic underneath, put the doo-hickeys back in place, and trimmed the elastic ends. I overlapped and joined the elastic ends with a needle and thread in the middle of the watch back. The piece of elastic serves as something to stitch onto, holding the watch face to the watch band. Know what I mean?

Next I made a soft watchband by sewing the cotton scrap and towel piece good sides together with a short piece of elastic sandwiched in between. I left one end open and flipped the whole thing inside out. The band itself was completed by stuffing the end of the elastic into the open end of the watchband, turning in the raw edges and sewing it all shut nice and tight. All that was left to do was to attach the watch face. I sewed it on by hand with a few stitches on either end of the face.

Can't wait till he tries it on! I love checking stuff like this off the perpetual, ever-expanding, never-ending list of to-dos. Plus, it's cute and incorporates The Boy's two favourite colours: red and blue. I'm pretty sure this makes me mom-of-the-year, don't you? Probably.

Okay, I'm off to weed something. Have a lovely evening!

♥M

Series 9: Old Towel New - Washcloths

I hope you're enjoying some well-deserved rest this lovely Easter weekend.

A quick and quiet "Old Towel New" installment today. I'm transforming old towels into other stuff in this series. This one's a no-brainer. It goes a little something like this...

If you're not familiar with how to make seam binding, an extremely thorough binding tutorial resides right here! Once you've made the binding, then...

Don't forget to sew it down! I did it by hand, but you could do it by machine as well.

All of which leaves you with...

Match them to your bathroom or kitchen and enjoy!

Have a safe and Happy Easter!

♥M

 View installment 1 of this series HERE.

Series 9: Old Towel New - Mop Pad

The mop below is one of my favourite household cleaning items. Its telescopic handle and pivoting head are genius for reaching into the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies of our little house. It is grrreat for mopping the floors. With a spray bottle, I simply mist the floors with a vinegar-water solution and then pass the mop over them. So easy. But best of all, it has a long-lasting, removable, and washable cleaning pad. When I'm done mopping, I throw that dirty pad in the wash and that's IT, I'm done. I know I sound like an advertisement, but this is how I feel about this mop deep down in my heart. Also, I can assure you that I do not, nor have I ever, worked for the makers of this mop,Vileda.

As far as I can see, there is only one down-side to this mop. It came with only one cleaning pad, and sometimes, when I've let things slide around here (who, moi?), a second replacement pad would really come in handy, you know?

So just in time for spring cleaning, I decided to fashion a grubby old towel into a second replacement pad! Yip yip. Here's what I did.

I cut a rectangle of old towel slightly wider than my Vileda pad, and twice plus 3 inches longer. Then I folded it in half and machine-stitched down the long edge with a 1/2 seam allowance.

I trimmed the excess beyond the stitching. Then flipped the whole thing inside out.

With the sewing machine and my good old walking-foot, I quilted the towel layers together with semi-random parallel lines of stitching. Then, I grabbed a few cotton scraps, cut out a couple of squares, folded them into rectangles and lay them along the short sides of the quilted towels like so.

The raw edges (along the short sides), I zigzagged shut multiple times. And finally, I folded the long edges over about an inch and stitched them down.

Such a useful little project. It makes me happy.

Here's Vileda modelling her new outfit now...

Oh, she look gooooooood. The height of moppy fashion.

Oh and by the way, this is the first post in a series of old towel refashions. I wonder what'll be next? Hmm...

Well, you have a lovely day now.

♥M