DIY ROUND TOWEL + HOLDER
Cost: about $20 for towel materials + holder materials
Difficulty:
Materials:
– 3 x thrifted belts
– 2 x thrifted towels (same colour)
– twine (thin and thick)
– fabric dye
– cord for tasels
Tools:
– scissors
– hot glue gun
– leather punch
– sewing machine or needle and thread
– pins
– sink/ bucket
– mall container and stir stick
Beach towels can sometimes be bulky to hold so our first diy is this amazingly practical towel strap. We’re going to be using upcycled belts for the bulk of this so we headed to the thrift store and picked up 3 belts.
Take your first belt and wrap it around one side of a rolled up towel. Your belt probably won’t have a hole this far in so we marked where our new on will go.Use a leather punch to punch a new hole.We also added a hole on either side to make it look more like a belt.
Lay your first belt on top of your second belt to easily mark out matching holes. Punch these out as well.
Cut the ends on a “V” to make them look a bit more finished. Strap your belts up to make sure they fit well.
Take your third belt and loop it under the first two. To attach this top belt to the bottom ones, we’re using a combo of hot glue and some twine. Glue your two belts together where they connect and then wrap the twine around them on an angle. We wrapped the twine on both angles to create an x shape. Use the hot glue again to hold the end of the twine in place. Repeat this on both belts.
For the top handle, Measure out how tight you want it to be. Since our third belt is a braid that might unravel pretty easily, we’re going to glue first, cut second. Use some hot glue to glue your belt together in a loop.
Next using some thicker twine, glue one end into place and then wrap the twine around the belt to create a nice secure grip. Glue and cut the twine once you’re done. You can use this holder for picnic blankets, yoga mats, or this gorgeous circle beach towel we’re going to show you how to make next.
Since we couldn’t find a towel as big as we wanted, we’re starting with two average sized towels from the thrift store.. Pin the two edges together and then use a sewing a machine to sew the two towels together to create one large one. Fold your towel in half and then half again to create four layers. Use some sharp scissors to cut the towel on a curve . Once you open it up, you should have a circular shape. We went around the entire edge with the sewing machine to stop it from shedding so much. Next we’re going to add some dye to the towel to make it a little more personalized.
Following the directions on our package of orange dye, fully soak the towel with hot water. Next, fill a small jar with hot water and dissolve the dye into it. Use a stirring stick to make sure the powder fully dissolves. You’ll also want to fill a stainless steal sink or large bucket with hot water and dissolve 5 tablespoons of salt into it. For our towel we want to create a circular ombre effect so start by grabbing your towel from the center and laying it out in a scrunched up line. Use some rubber bands to tie the towel up tightly in four sections. You can do as many or as little sections as you want. Once your small batch of dye is ready, pour it into the large bucket (or sink in this case) of water. To create the ombre effect, you’ll need to add more and more of the towel into the dye slowly. We dipped our first section in and left it for 30 minutes. Then we added the second section in for another 20 minutes. And then we added the third section in for a final 10 minutes. We decided to leave the last section out because we wanted some of our towel to remain white. Again remember to consult the directions on your dye since the instructions may be different. Once the dying time is up, we rinsed the towel out in some cold water, washed it in some warm waters, and let it air dry.
The final touch is to add a fringe around the edge. Using some matching orange cord cut strips around 7 inches long . Use scissors to cut slits in the towel and then loop the cord through and tie it in a knot. Repeat this all the way around the towel to give it a nice edge!