FREE PATTERN: DIY Lounge Chair Towel Holders for a Disney Cruise

 

When we sailed on Disney Cruise Lines with some friends in September 2022, I made these personalized lounge chair towel holders/chair toppers/chair covers for us.  It made it so easy to find our chairs amongst a sea of lounge chairs!

How did this all start? Well, after watching the “Life Well Cruised” YouTube Channel, I discovered that towel bands were the solution to the problems of beach towels (1) blowing away in the wind and (2) slipping off the top of a lounge chair.  So I bought some towel bands on Amazon in June 2022.  They were VERY useful & I could see why the vlogger said they were one of the top 10 things to bring on a cruise. 

Later that same summer, while I was in the midst of making some personalized matching shirts for our families, it hit me.  I could also make personalized lounge chair towel holders!  My only complaint with the towel bands that I purchased is that they are too narrow to personalize. So I made these chair toppers/chair covers instead.

These are the matching polo shirts that I made.
I drew the family name logos myself by hand (I did NOT use a font)
and digitized them to use with my Cricut.

I purchased a yard of blue and a yard of red swimsuit fabric, also known as “Performance Nylon & Spandex Fabric” from JoAnn Fabrics.  I cut each yard of fabric according to the schematic below:

This yielded 6 rectangles for each color.

I used a “stretch twin machine needle” with a straight stitch on my sewing machine (I don’t own a serger) to sew it all up with a 0.5” seam allowance.

1. For each individual rectangle, I folded them in half to make a 9”x19” rectangle as shown by the dotted lines in the schematic.
2. I sewed the short edges shut, and then boxed the top corners about 0.25” deep.
3. I then folded & hemmed the bottom edges.

The finished dimensions are about 18” wide x 8.5” tall.

I mixed acrylic paint mixed with “fabric medium” to make my own DIY fabric paint. Then I used the fabric paint with the “freezer paper stencil” technique to apply the image that I had previously designed for our personalized shirts.  I prefer to use fabric paint instead of heat transfer vinyl (HTV) on all of my Cricut projects because: (1) Fabric paint can withstand many wash-and-machine-dry cycles without peeling off. (2) Instead of peeling, the fabric paint stretches and cracks in the same manner as vintage T-shirts. In contrast, HTV has limited stretch. (3) I don’t have to worry about an iron melting synthetic fabrics to apply the HTV image to the fabric. This was especially important because the fabric that I used to make the towel holders is synthetic.

To use the towel holders, we folded the beach towel over the top of the lounge chair, and then slipped a towel holder over the top of the chair to prevent the towel from blowing away or falling down. Even though these were made for a Disney Cruise vacation, we can use them for other future vacations or anytime when we’re at a pool or beach! Plus, whenever we use them, it will bring back fond memories of good times with friends!

UPDATE: These would make great Disney Fish Extender FE gifts.  Except I wouldn’t personalize them. It took way too long to design each family name to look like the cruise ship logos. If you want to make these yourself for FE gifts, here’s a FREE PRINTABLE sheet that has 6 name tags.

For links to other crafts that I made for a Disney Cruise, check out:

• Fish Extender
• Pixie Dust Hanging Holder

DIY Disney costume: Jake and the Neverland Pirates

My son outgrew his store-bought Jake costume, so I made him a new costume.  The problem with a store-bought jumpsuit-style costume is you have to take the whole costume off in order to use the restroom.  But since this DIY costume functions like real clothes, it won't have that problem.

This costume was actually made from upcycled clothing.

I made the vest from a thrifted blue hoodie and yellow T-shirt.

I made the shirt out of a hole-y men's undershirt and black scraps from my quilt project.

The pants are just any pair of blue jeans that my son wears.

The boots are from the original Jake costume.

The bandana is from the original Jake costume.

First I started with the blue vest.  

Step 1:  I cut off the sleeves from the hoodie.

Step 2:  I removed the hood & front pocket.  Then I cut straight down the center of the front.

Step 3:  I used the material from the sleeves to make the collar flaps.  I pinned them to the vest collar.

Here's the front (left) & back (right) of the collar.

Step 4:  I sewed the flaps in place.  Then I trimmed them into the shape.

Here's the front (left) & back (right) of the collar.

Step 5:  I cut a yellow T-shirt into strips and used the strips to line the edges & collar of the vest.

Now onto the pirate shirt.  I started off with one of my husband's old undershirts. It had a few holes in it, which was perfect for the tattered effect.

Step 1:  Spread out the adult shirt flat on the floor.

Step 2:  Placed one of my son's T-shirts on top of the adult shirt.  My son's shirt served as a pattern.

Step 3:  I cut around my son's T-shirt, leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 4:  I sewed up the edges of the fabric to make at new shirt.

Step 5:  I cut a through the front and back of the sleeves.

Step 6:  I cut a slit in the front collar, then sewed two pieces of black ribbon (also upcycled) into an X over the slit.

Step 7:  I used black fabric scraps to make a "belt" and sewed the belt to the bottom of the shirt.

 

To assemble the costume, all my son needs to do is wear ANY PAIR of blue jeans, put on the boot covers, put on the pirate shirt & vest, and put on the bandana headband.

Yay-hay, way to go Mateys!  We just made a pirate costume!  Yo-ho, let's go have some fun!  Arrgh!