K's Towel Skirt

 

This week they have started swimming at K's kindergarten. Apparently for the 2-3 year olds, it's not so much swimming as splashing around in a tiny pool of water. For swimming, however, each kid needs a swimsuit (of course), a swim bag (to keep their wet things in) and a "towel skirt." I had no idea what a towel skirt was, but luckily they had some examples on display at his kindergarten when we had to go a few weeks ago. It is exactly what it sounds like - a long skirt made from a towel. If I remember correctly, the ones they had on display were all homemade looking. I had no idea you could actually buy these, but it turns out you can. I didn't work that out, however, until after I made K's. No biggie though - it was simple to do and I don't think he cares that his is pretty simple in design. 

 

I started with a regular towel that had some green ribbon down one side of it.

After measuring K's waist and multiplying by 1.5, I cut the towel off at the ribbonless end.

Then I did a really tight zig zag stitch down the cut side to keep it from making an unravel-ly mess.

Since it was then all wavy, I ironed it and stitched it to the other end of the towel, right next to the green ribbon. In other words, I just made the skirt by making a long tube.

I left about the bottom 1/3 unsewn to give K some more room for walking.

Finally I measured the length from K's waist to ankles and folded the remaining bit over to the underside to make the casing for an elastic. This makes the waist quite bulky, but it doesn't seem to bother him and made my life a lot easier. Once the casing was sewn, I fed some elastic through it, closed off the elastic and the little bit that was left of the casing. Done!

While I didn't really see the point of the towel skirt, I must say, I am sold. It is way easier than trying to wrap a towel around K and having it stay put during lunch or just while he is playing inside, knowing that he will get back in the balcony pool in about 10 minutes. Additionally, it is such a simple project that can be thrown together in about 15 minutes. If you have a pool or a sprinkler and a kid who likes to get wet, I would most definitely recommend you whip up one of these little guys!