It’s the last-minute gift-sewing season, and I know there are many sewing machines humming late into the night—mine included. So whether it’s for this Christmas or for a birthday in the next year, I have another easy-to-sew, but most importantly, a useful gift for you to create, a towel wrap for adults. (I featured a kids’ towel wrap also, not too long ago!)

Gather your supplies!

The basic instructions and supplies are found in  Nancy’s 30 Favorite Gifts to Sew. In this Blog Exclusive, I’ve decided to personalize the towel wrap with trim and an embroidered appliqué. 

In addition to the bath-sized towel, elastic, and Hook & Loop Tape, I chose an embroidery design from the Appliqués for Sweatshirts Embroidery Designs and fabric for the appliqué. Appliqués are ideal to add to terry cloth since the fabric rests on top of the nap, not embedded in the nap! 

Give shaping to the towel

• Add the elastic to the top. It’s quite simple. You’ll find all the measurements and how-to instructions in the book.

• Then, topstitch the Velcro in place.

Now, personalize your towel wrap

• Make fabric trim. Cut 1-1/2″ crosswise strips of fabric and insert through a 3/4″ bias tape maker. Press. Instant trim!
• Topstitch the trim along the sides of the towel. Since my towel has grooves along each side, I covered the non-terry cloth sections with trim.

Stitch the appliqué

• I hooped a tear-away stabilizer, black in color. Then pressed a square of a fusible stabilizer to the wrong side of the towel in the area where the towel will be embroidered.
• Then, with a touch of adhesive spray, the towel is applied to the hooped stabilizer.
• The first stitching of the embroidery is a tack-down of the embroidery’s background fabric. After stitching, trim.

• Before stitching the decorative stitch, add a layer or two of a wash-away stabilizer. The stabilizer gives the embroidery a base, preventing the stitches from embedding in the nap of the fabric.

• The next section to be embroidered is the body of the dragonfly. A piece of cream-colored fabric is placed over the embroidery field, the machine stitches an outline, and the excess fabric is trimmed away. Now it’s time for the decorative stitches to be sewn to cover the edges. (I’m not showing every embroidery step, I think you get the idea.)

29 More Gifts to Sew!

For more year-round gift giving ideas, check out Nancy’s 30 Favorite Gifts to Sew.

Watch Sewing With Nancy Online

This is our best-kept secret! If you’d like to rewatch an episode of Sewing With Nancy or watch any of the last two years of programs (52 shows in all), head over to www.nancyzieman.com and click on your favorite topic.

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Bye for now,

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