DISCLAIMER: I say this is a "pseudo-tutorial", because I don't want to claim if you follow my directions step by step it will end up a certain way! I am definitely NOT a seamstress, and when I do sew, I would say that I am an "interpretive-sewer" (kinda like interpretive dance??!) That being said, I saw the idea for a mermaid beach towel, and thought, "I could make that!", and I did, for about $5 a towel! Not bad!
So, first off, I went to WalMart,
and found towels at $5 a shot in the colours I wanted (purple and turquoise), one towel per child (I needed 6: so 3 purple, 3 turquoise).
I chopped the bottom third off each towel,
and then I made a fin template using tissue paper.
I folded the tissue paper in half, drew half a tail freehand, cut it, opened it up and voila! A perfectly symmetrical fin!
I pinned it to a the bottom third of the towel that I had cut off, and cut around it, leaving a 1/4 to 1/2 inch for the seam allowance (a trick I learned in pattern making from the UVic Theatre Costume department!).
Then, as I am not much of a seamstress (as mentioned above), I waited to do the actual sewing until I was at my in-law's house in March, because my mom in law is a fabulous seamstress, and often takes my crazy ideas and figures out how to make them work! We serged the fins (an easy job for me!), and then she and my sister in law figured out a way to use crochet string (not yarn) to gather the unfinished edge of the top two-thirds of the towels in order to sew them to the fins. Are you with me still??
Here's the finished product!
After the visit, I took the finished towels home and attached velcro to the top of each tail so the girls could wear them!
Here's my husband's mom and sister hard at work on my crazy scheme...
And here's the finished product, modeled by the birthday girl.
The towels were a huge hit at the party, and a great
take-home gift instead of a goody bag!
It was super cute seeing them all wearing their towels
while they played barbies at the party.
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