From: J. BARRETT Title: Beach tote/blanket Categories: None Servings: 1 from jackie? 2 sm 7" metal zippers 1 sm 12" metal zipper 1 sm 4 1/4 yds cord(handles) 2 sm Yards terry cloth,esplained please read all these instructions before buying the material. i think i've forgotten a few. this ingenious beach tower carryall has two roomy pokcets to hold your money, makeup, suntan lotion, sunglasses, a paperback and almost anything else you need. a third pocket holds a flat foam pillow for your lolling comfort. you simplay lay your wet swimsuit on the towel when done for the day fold the sides of the tower inward, rollit up like a jelly rol and carry it by the 2 handles. the terry cloth you'll need 2 yards of printed terry cloth and 2 yards of a harmonizing solid color. this will make a towel of 6 feet in length, with one side in a print and the other in a solid. if you want your tower shorter or longer, buy more, or less material. most terry cloth comes in 44-45" width, although you can also buy it 36" wide. we have used 36" fabric for our towel and thi is certainly wide enough for comfortable sunbathing. If you buy wider fabric you may want to trim it on the side and use the excess for washcloths. NOTE: if you make your towel wider than 36" you will need to adjust the pocket measurements on hte diagram. if you prefer to use a solid color only-in which the color is the same on both sides of the cloth-you need buy only 2 1/3 yards. zippers-two 7" metal zippers and one 12 " zipper thick cord-4 1/4 yards, for the handles also you will need a slab of foam for the pillow. |---------------------------------------------------| | | | 7"zipper 12" zipper 7" zipper | | | | | | | | | | | pocket | pocket | |pocket | | | |______| |__________| |_______| | | | | | | 36" wide fabric----------> | 1. begin by laying each piece of cloth on a flat surface and straightening the ends. clip the selvedge at intervals of about 5". 2. put the 2 pices tog. at one end, right sides tog. this will be the edge in which you insert the zippers. using your tape measure, find the cneter point of this edge, 18" from each end. lay the 12" zipper acorss this point so that it is centered.mark the cloth about 1/4" from each end of the zipper. remove the nceter zipper and place the 7" zippers on either side. you should allow about 1" at the end of the fabric, plus a 1" seam allowance-so that there will be nearly 3" between the center and side zippers. mark the outer ends of the 2 side zippers as you did for the center zipper. 3. make a line of machine basting, 1" from the edge, stitching on the solid color side. 4. using your matching thread and a regular stitch, make another row of stitching on top of the basting, where you won't put zippers. 5. open the seam and press lightly. pin and baste the zippers over the machine basting,. with the zipper foot attached stitch all around each zipper and remove the basting. 6. with right sides tog. pin the remaining 3 edge tog. making sure that both layers are lying smoothly tog. stitch these 3 seams, leaving a gap of about 12" about halfway around the edge. trim the corners slightly to reduce the bulk of the seam allowance. turn the towel inside out throughthe 12" gap. turn in the seam allowance and hadn sew with small stitches. 7. measure the areas for the 3 pockets. for a 1- by 12" pillow, 1" thick, we allowed an area 11 1/2 by 13 inches. use a ruler to determine your stitching line and insert pins along the stitching line at 3" and 4" intervals. lay the pillow on the fabric to make sure that the stitching lines on all3 remaining sides are paralel to the edges of the pillow and that you have allowed for the thickness of the pillow. now measure and mark the areas for the other 2 pockets and stitch along those lines. 8. make another line of stitching along the other 3 edges of the towel about 3/4" from edge. 9. insert the pillow, lay the towel flat, with the print side up, fold the towel. 10. open the 2 sides again, and turn the bag over so that the outside is on top. pin the cord on the bag in 1 long loop to make handles. first make a knot in one end, and pin this in place near one of the conrers. run the cord along hte length of the towel, pinning at short intervals. make another knot at the next corner, and pin this in place. lay the cord in a curve make another knot at the next corner and continue pinning til you reach the first knot. cut the cord so that it iwll just fit under the beginning knot. wind some thread around this end to keep it from unraveling and pin it in place. 11. run a line of basting thead along the line of the cord, then remove the cord from the towel. now using the basting thread as a guide, pin the cord in place, a short length at a time and sew it onto the towel, concelaing the thread in the coils of the cord. be careful to sew only through the outside layer of tweling. variation" a single thickness towel-using solid color terry cloth. cut 3 pathc polcets from the extra 1/3 yard of fabric. these should measure the size of the finihsed pockets plus 1" on all 4 sides. pin the pockets in place and machien base-the zipper plackets. lay the seams flat andsew in the zippers. turn the pockets over so that the right sides of the zippers are upward. turn the pocket edges under 1" and pin and baste the pockets in place. stitch aroundthese 3 edges. insert the pillow. turn the remaining 3 edges under, first 1/4" and then 3/4" and stitch to make ahem. fold the towel and attach the cord and it's ready for the beach.