Thursday, March 09, 2017

Beach Bag from a Beach Towel


One of my daycare kids is celebrating their birthday this month. She loves dogs and the show "Paw Patrol", so I headed out the other night to get her a present ... hopefully dog related. I was in luck! There was a huge shipment of beach towels just arrived at the store I visited, all with cartoon themed pictures. Of course, they had Paw Patrol, so I scooped one up. This girl's family has a pool, so I figured it would be a nice little gift. But I wanted to add something to it.


I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to do something similar.

http://verydarkhorse.blogspot.ca/2011/09/summer-series-project-2.html:

 I only needed to look at the photo to decide how I was going to work mine. I didn't see the need to use two towels as this person did, and I didn't want to go to the fuss and bother of the border. I also changed the bulky towel handles for some cotton fabric. For a three-year old, I was going for simplicity.

I have some very heavy printed cotton, more like a canvas. I used this cotton to make pockets on one end quarter of the towel, and a pillow casing on the opposite end quarter. I made a lightly stuffed pillow out of muslin and inserted it into the case. This way the pillow can be removed when the towel needs washing. I left an opening in the case for this purpose. The handles are sandwiched in between the towel and the pockets. 


pillow insert

The towel can be laid down on the ground to lie on, and when you're finished with it, you just fold it over three times, bring the handles together and you have a small bag with pockets on the outside to carry a few essentials with you.

Fold over once, twice, three times and then sideways!

As I worked on this, I thought of all sorts of details that could be added to this idea.  Apart from embellishments of ribbons and trims, a zippered pouch might be handy for the beach and different sized pockets to hold a magazine and sunscreen. For this gift I left it fairly simple. 

Because I restrict myself to gifts for the kids between $10 - $15, I didn't put anything in the pockets. But I would have loved to add some little flip flops (also in the stores now), a sun hat and a colouring book and crayons. This cost me just the beach towel ($15) as I already had the fabric and the stuffing. It took me about three hours to make this from start to finish, so a fairly quick and easy project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy



17 comments:

  1. What a great idea!! It came out beautifully and I know she'll love it!! My daughter likes Paw Patrol too. : ) xo

    ~ Wendy
    http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  2. That's so cool! May I ask where you found the beach towel? I may have to pick one up for my 16-month-old godson who also loves Paw Patrol.

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  3. Kudos! Well done....
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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  4. What a great idea! I know some little people who LOVE Paw Patrol!

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  5. A wonderfully crafted gift.. so cute too.

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  6. That's a great idea. I've got 4 grandkids that would love them.

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  7. What a great idea and such a fabulous gift. Beautifully made too!

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  8. This is a really sweet idea Wendy. I'm sure the little girl will love it. When I was in high school I made a bathing suit cover up from a bath towel, or maybe it was two. I guess it depends on the size of the towel and the person. I haven't sewn in years. Your project turned out beautifully.

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  9. I do love this crafty idea Wendy, and you are such a talent whipping that up. The Paw Patrol towel is lovely, and my youngest grandson would love it. He introduced me to the Paw Patrol gang when they visited at Christmas :)

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  10. This is so clever, Wendy, and so sweet of you. I was thinking of the beach as well, caught up in our lovely spring weather but winter is making another appearance and all at once it is cold and rainy. Happy Sunday!
    Amalia
    xo

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  11. What a great idea, Wendy, and such a wonderful gift! I know quite a few kids that this would be perfect for.

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  12. I'll bet that will be a treasured gift for years to come! Great job :)

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  13. This is so clever and just precious Wendy!! What a great job. I think you're going to have one happy little birthday Girl! And I love your ideas for extras to it too.

    Thanks for sharing - love love love!! xoxo

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  14. That is so cute Wendy, a useful gift made from the heart.

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  15. What a great idea Wendy. You're such a generous care giver (and creative too). Sorry I haven't responded to your last comment. My laptop isn't working so I'm using my husband's and just can't seem to get into the e-mail.

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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