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Michele Made Me

One birdie's attempt to figure things out. Oh, and crafts.

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Series 9: Old Towel New – Bath Puppet

April 26, 2012 by Michele

 

 

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.

Filed Under: Old Towel New, reuse, Series, sewing, sewing, Tutorials Tagged With: home, kids, old towel, recycling, repurpose, toys, tutorial

Previous Post: « To The Drawing Board
Next Post: Parsnips Resurrected »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ludo braille says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:01 am

    Super !!!
    Très bonne idée !!!
    Nadia

    • Michele Pacey says

      April 26, 2012 at 12:38 pm

      Merci Nadia!

  2. Suki says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:04 am

    So cute! I really want to try this. Thanks for sharing. All our bath towels are really old!

    • Michele Pacey says

      April 26, 2012 at 12:39 pm

      Oh I hear ya! It's pretty amazing how long-living those things are.

  3. CREATIVE MIND says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:09 am

    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

      April 26, 2012 at 12:42 pm

      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

    April 26, 2012 at 11:26 am

    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

    • Michele Pacey says

      April 26, 2012 at 12:43 pm

      Thanks Annie. They are super-easy and you can totally customize them right? Have fun Annie. 🙂

  5. Melissa says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:42 am

    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.

    • Michele Pacey says

      April 26, 2012 at 12:45 pm

      Oh see, that's a good way to keep using them even when they're done being used in the bathroom. Good idea Melissa!

  6. thingsforboys says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:51 am

    So cute! I made a polar bear bath puppet from a white towel for my son.

    • Michele Pacey says

      April 26, 2012 at 12:46 pm

      Your puppet bear sounds adorable! 🙂

  7. Fiona says

    April 26, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    Love it…. I just have such fun seeing what the next bit of magic you perform is…
    Hugz

  8. Alessandra says

    April 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    You are so funny, Michele!! your puppet is great and I love his face a lot!
    xxx Alessandra

  9. Amy Friend says

    April 26, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    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.

  10. nicolette at dutchcomfort says

    April 26, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    You and Terry make a great team! Both hilarious!

  11. Michelle L. says

    April 26, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    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

    April 26, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!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 ♥

  13. Charissa - The Gifted Blog says

    April 26, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    Michele, I actually giggled out loud when the first picture popped into view in my blog reader. : ) Lovely work as usual!

  14. Little Treasures says

    April 27, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    Awwww .. so cute!

  15. felicity says

    April 27, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Ha ha Terry – I love it! this would be a great baby shower gift, actually.

  16. zoe♥ says

    April 28, 2012 at 7:50 am

    he's adorable, thanks for sharing! 🙂

  17. Katherines Corner says

    April 28, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    a wonderful way to recycle an old towel. Cute and clever! xo

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I am ecstatic if you choose to link to this site, use a brief description, one photo, or link back to any of my posts. Do not republish entire posts without my permission. Tutorials, patterns and printables are for your personal use only and are not to be used to make items for sale. Thank you.

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