Beach Towel Robe for kids!

I loved R's new Beach/Pool Robe SO much I made him two!  This is seriously a life saving GEM since my 2 year old cannot keep his towel on.  It was VERY easy to make too! I made the first one short sleeved with the partial tie option and a hood.  He normally wears a size 4T (yes I know, he's so tall!) but he is slim enough to wear 3T.  The dilemma was which size to make so I went for the medium sized 18mo to 3T and used the length of the large sized 4/5T.  Worked great!  Except on the first one I made the ties the size of the large, which ended up being way too long and I put them down too far. I then decided for the 2nd one he needed the full tie to help it stay on better and put them up higher.  PERFECT!  I also had a problem with the robe slipping off his shoulders so I added a button and some elastic.  Problem solved! (I went back and added that to his first one later so you don't see it in the pics.) If you can't tell by the pictures, break time at the pool is all about snacks with us!  

Beach Robe Pattern by MADE

Beach Towel Dress!

I love my new Beach Towel Dress! Yes, made from an actual beach towel. Actually, a $3.97 beach towel from Walmart! What I don't like is being my own model! Oh well.  I got the tutorial off Made, which if you haven't noticed is one of my favorite sewing blogs.  She uses a pattern to make hers but I just took my hip measurement and added 6 inches and sewed the top with elastic thread then sewed the side together.  I think when I do it next time I will add more rows of shirring..I got too anxious to finish, and I will cut a front and back piece, I like having two side seams.  I can't wait to use it!  It is so hard to juggle my towel and get R in one while making sure he doesn't run off while getting all our stuff together.  I am always soaking wet while everyone else gets a tad more dry.  In addition, I am usually holding him while he is still wet, but her newest addition will hopefully change that too. She also just added TODAY a beach robe pattern, which R totally needs! I think with a Cars2 or Thomas beach towel though.  So after nap we are off to the pool again!

Kids play tent for under $10!

R's new play tent!!

I fell in love with these A-frame tents I have been seeing on blogs and decided to make one for R.  They are SUPER easy!  I used Rubyellen's tutorial and added a few things of my own.  She explains everything you need on her site, but I had a few changes.  She used finished moulding and I just used 1x2 unfinished wood since I was wrapping mine in fabric (I did lightly sand also).  The moulding was between $3 and $8 a piece depending on the look you wanted (which cut in half gives you 2 pieces for your tent frame) The 1x2 unfinished wood was $1.12 for an 8 foot piece (which gave me 2 pieces also).  I used a $5 sheet from walmart for the tent fabric and hemmed it.  I would measure the frame top once you finish because mine was a tad shorter than her specifications, meaning I  just pushed my tent frame further onto the dowel rod.  For my frame covering I had some canvas/linen type fabric from an old ikea curtain sitting in the closet, which I just ripped into strips to give it a frayed look.  There was enough of the sheet leftover though if you wanted to wrap your tent pieces in matching fabric.

Now go make a tent to read, play, sleep, or in my case.... use as a train tunnel,

or steal mom's tablet to play matching games.