Dishtowel Dresses

I want to share a quick little post with you of the darling dishtowel dresses I made for my two granddaughters.  As most of you know I am always thinking out of the box and looking for ways to give something a whole new use; which is pretty much I what I did with a couple of sweet heavy duty cotton dishtowels I saw at Target on sale.  Since I have to drive two towns over to shop for fabric I try to find other ways to get hold of fabrics I can use to sew with including, sheets, towels, tablecloths, placemats, curtains and shower curtains.  Most of those items have good size yardage I can cut up and use for several projects for very little cost especially if they go on sale or clearance. In the case of the cute dishtowels I saw them on the end cap with the summer accessories and thought they were really adorable but they did not go with my kitchen décor. I began wondering what else I could use them for and immediately thought they would make pretty, durable summer dresses for the girls.  Here is what I did with them.

The first dress I made was for my littlest granddaughter, the pretty hot pink and green was so sweet it looked just like her.  I took some measurements from her then cut off one end of each towel, I used two identical towels.  Next I just stitched up the sides two thirds of the way up leaving the existing side seams and hem intact.  I stitched down around the arm holes and turned down several inches at the top to create a casing to run some ties through.  I cut long strips of double fold bias tape, stitched it down one side and threaded it though the casings on each side and tied it at the shoulders, all done in less then thirty minutes!

I made this darling dress for my oldest grandchild the same way I did the first dress, with the exception of two inch slits on each side seam for easy movement.  I top stitched the slits and under the arms to keep the fabric smooth and fuss free. In hindsight I should have put slits in the toddler dress as well since she is super active and she moves around more then her big sister.  These adorable dresses will become very soft and comfy the more they are worn and washed because they are made of sturdy fabric suited to drying dishes. 

Both girls looked very sweet and summery in their new outfits, I am glad I saw those towels and found a whole new use for them.  Thanks for letting me share my dishtowel dresses with you, I hope you enjoyed another one of my out of the box designs.

See you soon.

Laurette