Beach Robe-n

Summer is almost here!
In fact yesterday was Owen’s last day of school.  And Lucy’s is next week.
I can’t believe it.


I’m immediately excited and overwhelmed at the same time.  What am I going to do with 3 kids for 3 months when it’s 90 and sunny?  Don’t I ask myself this same question every year?  And then before I know it, we’re taking new school supplies to the new teacher?  Summer flies.  We better enjoy it!  And judging from past summers I can guarantee at least two things….

1.  We’ll be wearing a lot of shorts…..which is why I’m feverishly working on the new shorts pattern to share with you all!  I made great progress this week.  Hopefully it’s ready within the month.

2.  The daily schedule will involve one (or more) water activities.  Which means that once I’m done making shorts…..it’s time to sew Beach Robes! And that means it’s also time to find cool towels to turn into beach robes…and I’m loving the selection of towels in stores right now.  Have you been looking??  Now’s the time!

From Ikea, Target, and Old Navy I scored these beauties:


(baby not included;  crazy reaction to ombre towels definitely included)

I mean, how cool is this print?  (Old Navy).  I’m totally making it into a robe for Lucy.

And this might be perfect for little Clara:

I’m so excited she’s big enough for a beach robe!  I actually look forward to making these each year because they’re so easy to sew and the kids love them.

Three cheers for summer! and soon-to-be beach robes

But Shorts first.  Because it’s way too hot for these anymore:

Have a great weekend!
(And get shopping for towels, for making robes, for kids, for summer, for hot pink sunglasses and toothy grins.  Bye!)

  1. Clara is killing me with her cuteness lately!
    Our last day was yesterday!!! Ahhh! Let the fun begin.

  2. 2) Aimee

    Hi, That sounds realy great, 3 months of summer holliday! Here in Holland we only have 6 weeks……. We still have to go to school for 6/7 weeks. And it is still raining here, bleh!
    But i hope the sun will come soon so i could try the new summer shorts pattern.
    I love your blog.

    Aimee.

  3. Wow, beach-robes!
    We don’t need them here in Europe: Springtime seems to be wintertime or an early fall with lots of rain and low temperatures.Could you please send us a bit of your sunshine???

  4. Nice towels! I love our beach robes, but unfortunately won’t be making more this year because last years still fit… argh! Maybe I could make more anyhow?!

  5. Yes. I look through the beach towels at the stores and imagine them as beach robes.

  6. woohoo!! man those towels are pretty awesome–LOVE! your writing style always makes me smile Dana. 🙂 have a great weekend!!

  7. 7) Valerie D.

    I would love to make beach robes for my kids when we go to the coast this summer! Will you be expanding the sizes of your pattern? I need sizes 10 down to 6 months 🙂 The towels you found are awesome!

    • 8) Jen

      I just thought the same thing this weekend, hitting Target or Kmart to buy some towels. I’m not a Kmart shopper, mostly because the 2 near us are rather…… ummmmm…….. not very nice. But I ran in there one day and saw some really cute beach towels.

  8. Confession: ever since you came out with that pattern I look at every beach towel I see in terms of how it would look as a robe. Ha!

  9. 10) JS

    Love the aqua/greens towel. My daughter gave this one to me for mother’s day! LOVE those colors. As for summer…..we are happy to actually see the sun today and be warmed into the 50’s. This is a heat wave for us as it has done nothing all “spring” but snow and rain. Beach towel? I’ll probably need a parka! Love Clara’s toothy grin

  10. Oh I am so jealous!! Here in London it’s freezing cold, rainy, and my kids don’t get summer holidays until 24th July ( and have to be back for the first week of September!). Can’t wait to see how the robes turn out. Love your blog btw! 🙂

  11. 12) Rachel

    I’m also looking for bigger sizes. I see your pattern only goes up to 3-4. Will you be providing more sizes or maybe a tutorial on how we can adjust your pattern to fit larger size?

    Would love to purchase pattern, but it just wouldn’t fit enough of my girls 2-11 years.

  12. 13) Sara Speight

    I live in New Zealand where it is getting cold now! I have followed your blog for a while and admired the beach robes since you created them but haven’t for round to making them. I teach swimming in the weekend and the other day I noticed 2 little girls wearing familiar looking handmade robes, Sure enough, after a conversation with her Mum I realized that you had 2 fans living in small town New Zealand. She said your robes had been a huge hit in her family!

  13. Love the robes…and Clara’s cute little one piece outfit! Where is it from??

  14. 15) Jackie Sorich

    ADORABLE! Great job, darling child. Hugs to you & yours.
    Jackie

  15. 16) Hillary

    I love these robes. Definitely want to make THREE but my kids are 3, 6 and 8. Getting too big (sigh) and it might be ugly if one of them didn’t get one. Keep me posted if you expand into larger sizes as your kiddos grow!

  16. I can´t wait for summer 🙂

  17. In FRANCE, holidays begin in july!! Happy holidays to your children!!
    Bonnes vacances!!

  18. Oh I am so jealous. We are still wearing hats and gloves here – seriously (UK). And school doesn’t break up until end of July. Loving the the rippled chevron fabric. Look forwards to seeing the finished article!

  19. 20) jodie

    it is hard to believe kids are stopping school for their summer holidays when we have winter (nearly) and still lots of school till the end of the year! just a quick side note, i made your beach robe into a dressing gown for one of my sons and he loves it! now to make one for son number two, with a cool hood as well. thanks Dana for your endless supplies of patterns……

  20. First off, the colors and your photos are just beautiful! I have always wanted to make these (matching ones, of course) and you’ve inspired me to put it on my “must-dos” for this summer!

  21. 🙁 sooooo jealous, summer is long gone here. weird to think i’m looking forward to your shorts pattern! i’m also envious of your 3 month break with your 3 little ones. i miss my big guy being at school all day. as much as they can all drive me crazy, theyre great company & i love the care free days of no routine.

  22. 23) Ronja

    I really want one of those in my size. Is that a strange thing for a grown women to want?

  23. 24) Amber

    I finally got around to making a robe for my almost 1-yo for his first trip to the beach next week and am in LOVE! He looks so darn cute in it with just his head peeking out – love.love.LOVE!!! And so easy too, one afternoon is all it took

  24. Today was our last day of school…which means I’m the happiest lady alive! (I love every single thing about summer vacation.)

    Those towels are freaking awesome…I love that crazy orange wonky stripe one!
    liZ

  25. I totally picked out the target towels for my kids beach robes too!

  26. Holy Cow. She is so adorable. I can’t get over it.

  27. 28) Karen

    I purchased the pattern for the beach robes. I made 3 copies of the pattern and cut out a small, medium, and large. I am in the process of putting together the smallest pattern. I am having difficulty with the front. I have the first 3 pieces together, but cannot figure out where piece 4 and 5 go. The picture of the assembled pieces doesn’t show a 4 or 5. What are these pieces for? Thanks. Can’t wait to get started making the beach robes for my grandchildren. We are ALL going to the beach together in a couple of weeks and are planning on surprising them with the beach robes. Karen

  28. Love it! Makes me wish for more beach days and less office days!

    xo,
    Katie
    hellolittlebean.com

  29. 30) bdaiss

    It’s so funny to see all these posts about kids just getting done with school – we were done May 22nd! Here’s to summer!

    I totally want that Old Navy towel. AWESOME design. Hello cute Clara – you make towels even cuter!

  30. 31) eirian johnson

    i’m dying for Clara in those sunnies.

  31. I love your patterns! So cute!

    Summer is always a challenge! I’m trying to keep the kids more interested in reading with activities that go along with the books we read. Check it out at bringbookstolife.com. We’re just getting started, but we have a couple books already, plus a date night idea!

  32. 33) Linda

    Don’t see where to download child beach robe.

  33. 34) Diane

    Hi, I just saw your pattern for the baby/toddler bath robe. I use to have a pattern Butterick I think that was very similar except the hood wasn’t lined. I made one when my daughter now 32 was born. Of course I got rid of it long ago since I only made one. Now my nieces and nephews are starting families and I would like to make some. So please let me know if it is still available. Thanks Diane

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