Michele Made Me

Series 9: Old Towel New – Bath Puppet

by

 

 

Ah yes… Here we are. ‘Tis the final chapter in the Old Towel New saga. With only scraps and dregs left over from the other towel projects I barely managed to scrape together this sweet double-duty bath puppet. See? It can serve as both a toy and a soft washcloth. The little ones can simultaneously have fun AND get sparkly clean. Handy, no?

Here’s the how-to:

I made a simple newspaper template as below and cut out 2 of the large pieces and 4 of the circles.

I sewed two pairs of circles together, leaving a gap for turning. I then zigzagged around all edges of the two large pieces. I snipped the edges of the two circles (ears) and turned them inside out.

I cut a piece of freezer paper big enough to accommodate a face for my puppet and ironed it to one of the large pieces. I drew the face. [Note: I used freezer paper because it’s difficult to transfer a design onto towel with all those nubblees hanging about.] Now, using a running stitch and embroidery needle and thread, I outlined my design directly through the freezer paper. I then carefully, very very carefully, removed the freezer paper. Finally, I went over the entire outline with a back stitch. Oh yes, and I used satin stitch for the tiny myopic eyes.

To put the puppet together, I placed the circles (ears) onto the face as shown below, and then put the other large piece on top and pinned the layers together. I machine-stitched around the perimeter just inside the zigzagged edge, leaving the bottom open. I stitched one last zigzag around that bottom edge to finish it off neatly. Finally, I flipped the whole thing inside out and…

 

Behold! One fine play ‘n wash bath puppet:

That Terry… He’s hilarious.

♥M

The rest of the Old Towel New series: mop pad, washcloths, soft watchband, car sponge, oven mitt.

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Comments

  3. CREATIVE MIND says

    How Nice! Thanks for sharing the tutorial dear!
    sorry I have missed your previous posts of this series because of some studies burden but now I am back…I will check archives now!!

    • Michele Pacey says

      Hi Khadija! Perfectly understandable and no problem. It's difficult to keep track of each of every project from each and every blogger on our lists. It's impossible actually! So no worries!

  4. Annie says

    Oh wow I just love Terry. I may just have to design and make a few of those little characters for my Grandbabies 🙂
    Hugs,
    A x

  5. Melissa says

    He is hilarious with an absolutely adorable face.

    I don't think I've said this yet. Because I don't have a dedicated craft area and because I often craft on top of good surface (at least fifty percent of the time standing at my washing machine) I use my towels for drop cloths (even when painting the house). What I love about using them as drop cloths is that they are easy to bundle up and throw in the laundry. I use them until they are literally falling into shreds.

  9. Amy Friend says

    You make me laugh. I actually need to make some of these for the kids soon as I believe our old ones are starting to get mold on them. Eeeeeewww.

  11. Michelle L. says

    Excuse me, but when I saw the post title (but not the photo) I was expecting something, oh, more conventional. Like an animal or a cute alien or something. Then I clicked and gasped. This is so original! This is Michele to the last stitch!

    Love the tip about sewing thru the freezer paper – that is going to help me a lot.

    Beautiful!

  12. catie says

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!i love terry!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    like melissa, we have a bin of old towels reserved for:
    a rainy day to put down inside the front door,
    when someone might barf,
    drying the dog.

    since the bin is overflowing i think it might be time to try some of your awesome ideas.

    one other useful purpose is to donate any extras to an animal shelter.
    they always need soft, absorbent, albeit ugly, towels.

    terry could not be cuter, michele!
    maybe his last name should be wishy-washy ♥