Hooded Towel to Make a Gift Set!

This is the first Christmas gift-making season that I have my embroidery machine in my crafty arsenal!  Like many people I know, everything we see in stores becomes a potential for customizing, monogramming, or embroidering in some way.

Thinking of the kids on my list this year has had me thinking of what I can embroider for them.  No matter what, I do still remember being a kid at Christmas, though, and no way am I just giving a garment for Christmas.  (Opening clothing was the worst when I was a kid!)

So my solution is to combine embroidered items with toys to make fun gift sets.  My first set is for my little niece.  I was told that Ariel, who she calls "Mermaid," is one of her favorite characters.   I picked up an Ariel bathtub doll and paired it with the hooded towel I appliqued, personalized and sewed for her to make this gift set!

I found the embroidery file for this character on the French Frills website. The coolest thing about this company is the awesome little private customer Facebook group they have where they have tons of files with instructions for all kinds of things from the classic hooded towels that is the hallmark of their site to hats to stockings to hooded blankets.  You can go to their business Facebook page and message them to be added to their secret group.

I found a great video that showed me how to self-line the hood so that the backside of the embroidery is hidden and it is absorbent and comfy for kids.

French Frills has their own YouTube channel for how-tos as well for learning how to attach the hood to a towel (although it is basically matching the center of the hood to the center of the towel and sewing in place).

What makes all of this more fun in my opinion is that you can personalize it for the specific child it is going to.  I simply added my niece's name, but there are all kinds of add-ons available, especially if you are open to using files from other digitizers as well.

The font I used is Ballerina from Itch2Stitch.  It has become one of my favorite fonts!

Then I just folded the towel up in thirds and then rolled each side toward the middle and secured with ribbon.

The most fun to me is the presentation.  Several French Frills' customers have posted using cake boxes to package their hooded towels.

I found this box at Walmart sold as a pack of two in the cake decorating department.  This is a window cupcake box (without the insert).  This one is 13.25" x 10.25" x 4".  Many are buying them in bulk at Amazon or BRP Box Shop.

This is the label for the boxes I purchased at Walmart.

I will be wrapping the boxed towel and the doll together and voila!  One gift is done!  Only eleventy-billion to go!

Links Shared in this Post:

• Little Mermaid peeker applique file:  click here.
• French Frills business Facebook page:  click here.
• Video how-to for self-lining the hood for hooded towel:  click here.
• French Frills YouTube channel:  click here.
• Ballerina Embroidery Font:  click here.
• BRP Box Shop for boxes in bulk:  click here.

In the event that you are wondering....This project was done using a Brother PE770 embroidery machine, Embrilliance Essentials, a bx embroidery font file, Heat N Bond Light to fuse the applique fabrics to the towel, Metro embroidery thread, tear-away stabilizer, water soluble stabilizer for topping, sharp Titanium needle with embroidery eye, and a pre-wound white bobbin. The appliqued face fabric is crepe; the hair fabric is flannel.  For links to where I buy all my supplies as well as general embroidery info, check my machine embroidery page on this blog, or click here.

ITH Hand Sanitizer Case for PocketBacs

It's that time of year when we have to come up with lots of inexpensive gifts for gift exchanges.  We usually try to find our best deals on Black Friday but, this time, all the stores are doing early sales. For a ballet class gift to exchange that my daughter needed, we found a clearance dance bag at Claire's.  We needed to add something to it to make it a $10 gift so we picked up a sale PocketBac hand sanitizer at Bath & Body Works and I made a case with my embroidery machine, a simple Brother PE770.  

The case itself is a file from Bows and Clothes.  Using Embrilliance software, I added a file from Embroidery Boutique for the mini ballet shoes. I added it after the first step in the hoop.  

I had vinyl that looked like sequins in my stash.  The file required that the fabric used be something that does not fray so vinyl is perfect.  A PDF with directions is included in the embroidery file.  Once all the stitching is done, you have to cut the tear-away along the stitching so that the case opens!  I will admit that that part threw me for a second! I was very glad I had used black tearaway and black bobbin thread.  All the tearaway must be removed from all the stitching, but it is surprisingly fast and easy to do!

I used a Kam snap to complete the case.  This is a project where having a hand-held snap-setter is required.  The space is too tight for a snap press to work.  I used hardware from Mikri to allow it to be attached to the dance bag.

Links shared in this post:

• Case for Bath & Body Works hand santizer.  This is made entirely in the hoop on an embroidery machine:  click here.
• Bath & Body Works PocketBac hand sanitizer:  click here.  
• Mini ballet shoe filled design: click here.
• Swivel lobster clasp:  click here.
• Embrilliance software:  click here.

Thank you for checking my post today.  For a gallery of my embroidery projects, links to my supplies, and videos I used to learn to do machine embroidery, check out my Machine Embroidery page on this blog, or click here.  A gallery of my paper projects can be found in the Paper Project Gallery page, or click here.