Beauty and the Beast Spa Wrap

Pamper your little beauty with this fanciful but useful spa wrap. Embellished with one of Disney’s NEW Beauty and the Beast designs from iBroidery.com and constructed on my Brother Dream Machine® Innov-ís XV8500D, it is a fun and easy project. My granddaughter loves hers for a beach cover up and for after shower. What a special birthday gift this would be for any little girl.

Materials and Supplies

• Brother Sewing & Embroidery Machine, I’m using THE Brother Dream Machine® Innov-ís XV8500D. I’ve also included directions in case you don’t have a Brother Dream Machine®.
• 5×7 or larger frame
• SA191 Stitch in the Ditch Foot (Used here as an edge stitch foot -it’s so versatile!)
• SA120 Gathering foot – Optional (Use if your fabric is lighter weight than what I used-see first NOTE below.)

Fabric:

• Print for ruffle – 3½” x 80”
• Polka dot scrap for yo-yo – 4” square

• Bath towel (not too thick)

Stabilizer:

• SA5810 Medium-weight, tear away
• SA541 Lightweight, water soluble: 4” square for yo-yo, 8” square to cover towel during embroidery

Thread:

• Embroidery
• Monofilament
• All-Purpose white

Notions:

• Grosgrain ribbon 30 “x 1” wide
• 1 ribbon rosebud
• 10” hook and loop tape
• Elastic ¾” x 10-18” (see size chart below)
• Water soluble marker
• Water soluble basting tape
• Spray adhesive
• Large safety pin attached to 30-36” scrap ribbon
• 3 yds. crochet cotton or heavy string for gathering

Embroidery Design:

• iBroidery.com Disney Beauty design BATB07 and practice stitch out

Sizing

The standard/average chest measurements below are from a chart I found on-line and have been using for a few years. If you are unable to measure the child, just guesstimate by age.

The only component of the wrap that requires a child-specific measurement is the elastic. The following formula worked perfectly for 9 girls, ages 5-10, none of whom were measured. Simply deduct 12″ from the chest measurement on the chart below. Of course, if the child is larger or smaller than average, take that into account.

This 12” calculation works due to the 10″ overlap, closed with hook and loop tape. This allows a wide range of adjustments when the wrap is worn. The other 2″ is for stretch in the elastic. So from the chest measurement, 10″ is subtracted for hook and loop tape, and 2″ for stretch. For example, this wrap is size 8, the standard measurement of which is 24″. After subtracting 12″ , the recommended elastic length is 12″. Easy peasy.

Quick Overview To-do List

• Embroider design on scrap for color rehearsal and to serve as placement template.
• Fold short side towel hem to right side and stitch in place.
• Make casing.
• Embroider design on towel.
• Insert elastic.
• Attach hook and loop tape.
• Make ruffle.
• Join ruffle to towel.
• Stitch grosgrain ribbon over raw edge of ruffle.
• Create print rosette with ruffle.
• Make and attach yo-yo.
• Stitch rosebud in center of rosette.

Making Your Spa Wrap

1. Embroider Beauty and the Beast design BATB07 on scrap fabric.

2. Mark design center as shown on screen.
3. Fold one short side of towel over approximately 1″ to front, exposing hem. Straight stitch in place with lengthened stitch, approx. L. 3.5.

4. Reduce bulk at casing: on right side, draw a horizontal line 2 1/2″ from top of towel. Work zig zag stitch from top to that line, ½” in from fold.
5. Remove straight stitches from top to drawn line to horizontal zig zag. Cut away notch from above line and to zig zag stitches. This removes bulk.

6. Casing: Fold top edge (long side of towel) down 1-1/2″ to right side. Attach edge stitch foot. With colored thread in needle and bobbin, work triple straight stitch 1-05 with L. 4.0 very close to bottom of casing. Repeat 1/4″ (or so) from top folded edge.

Embroidery for THE Dream Machine®

7. Load Beauty and the Beast design BATB07 to Dream Machine. Edit to add basting frame.

8. Hoop 5×7 or larger frame with tearaway stabilizer and spray lightly with adhesive.

9. Place towel against stabilizer, situating the design 1 ½” from the folded side hem and 1 ½” below the casing’s stitching.
10. Stitch the basting frame. NOTE: If after placing the design precisely where you want it, you can restitch the basting if needed. The scan, which follows, is likely to jostle the towel off the stabilizer. By basting first, the towel is held in place while the frame moves.
11. Scan fabric.

12. Drag design in place with stylus. Place design 1 ½” from folded side edge and 1 ½” from lower casing stitching line. It is helpful to draw those parameters with a water soluble marker before dragging the design in place.

13. Cover embroidery area with water soluble stabilizer. This will help keep the pile of the towel from poking through the embroidery design. Secure stabilizer in place with basting frame built into the design (repeat step #7 from above).
14. Embroider Beauty and the Beast design BATB07.
15. Once design is complete, tear away excess stabilizer from the back side, using tweezers as needed. Gently cut away excess stabilizer from the front side. Remove as much of the water soluble stabilizer as possible before you take your towel over to rinse the rest out. DO hand rinse the excess out before you machine wash your towel.

Embroidery for Other Brother Machines

16. Load Beauty and the Beast design BATB07 to Brother embroidery machine. Edit to add basting frame (if that option is available) and rotate if using 5×7 frame.
17. Hoop 5×7 or larger frame with tearaway stabilizer and spray lightly with adhesive. NOTE: A larger frame gives you more wiggle room when positioning the design.
18. Place towel against stabilizer, taking care that the design is 1 ½” from the folded side hem and 1 ½” below the casing stitching, as shown above in step #14. NOTE: Use practice embroidered piece as a template for placement of design. Mark center with pin through practice piece. Lift embroidery and mark pin placement with water soluble marker. If your machine has no basting frame option, pin towel to stabilizer.

19. Cover embroidery area with water soluble stabilizer. This will help keep the pile of the towel from poking through the embroidery design. Secure stabilizer in place with basting frame if your machine has this option, or pin the stabilizer in place.
20. Embroider design.

Elastic

21. Draw vertical line through casing 10″ from each short side. The elastic will be secured within the casing at these marks. This marks the beginning and end of the elastic and the beginning of the 10″ of hook and loop tape.
22. Sew at least 12″ scrap ribbon to one end of elastic. Attach large safety pin to this ribbon. Sew another piece of scrap ribbon at least 20″ long to other end of elastic.

23. Insert safety pin into casing and pull elastic through until it meets the drawn line at 10″. The elastic can be felt through the towel. Pin in place and then stitch vertically, securing elastic along marked blue line. Pull ribbon out as far as possible and cut away. Whatever is left in the casing is of no concern. Repeat at opposite end of casing.

Hook and Loop Tape

24. Stitch loop side (soft side) of 10″ hook and loop tape to wrong side of wrap, above embroidery. Butt tape to front edge of casing, stitching close to edge. This not only attaches the tape but closes the casing opening. The tape should extend to beginning of elastic.

25. Stitch hook side of tape (scratchy side) to RIGHT side at opposite end of casing. NOTE: After tape is stitched down, trim off all eight sharp corners to avoid scratching tender skin.

Ruffle, Ribbon and Rosette:

26. Join two pieces of ruffle print, 3 ½” x width of fabric, as shown.

27. Trim ¼” from seam. Press seam open. Cut away 10” from length, to measure 3 ½” x 80”.
28. Fold 3 ½” x 80” print ruffle in half, wrong sides together, creating a folded piece 1 ¾” x 80”. Taper and trim each of the short ends, beginning 7” from end of ruffle.

29. Knot end of crochet cotton or string. Zig zag over crochet cotton W 4 L. 3. Gather ruffle to measure 12“ longer than the front edge of the towel.
30. At hem edge of wrap, tuck raw ruffle edge toward hemmed towel edge and stitch in place. Free motion works well if you are comfortable with that technique. Apply basting tape ¼” away from towel edge.

31. Press ruffle to tape. Stitch raw edge close to towel edge with straight stitch approximately 3/8” from towel side hem. And try to keep it even!
    Stop zig zag at lower row of casing stitching (see arrow). Leave ruffle unattached to wrap but pinned in place.

32. Cover raw edge of ruffle and folded over hem with grosgrain ribbon. With edge stitch foot and monofilament thread in the needle, begin straight stitching ribbon at lower line of casing stitching. At hem edge fold under raw edge of ribbon and continue stitching up opposite side.
33. Twist excess ruffle to form rosette. Use gathering thread to draw center tight enough that raw edges will be covered by yo-yo. Stitch rosette in place. NOTE: I find the easiest way to do this is to stitch free motion, with no presser foot.

YO-YO’s

33. With wash-away marker or pencil, trace a 2 ½-3” circle onto yo-yo fabric. I used a spray starch can lid. Place water soluble stabilizer on RIGHT SIDE then straight stitch directly on marked line.

34. Trim 1/4″ from stitching line. Cut slit in stabilizer.

35. Turn right side out through slit. Use point turner or covered end of seam ripper to smooth out edges. Press. Trim away as much stabilizer as possible in order to reduce the bulk when drawing yo-yo up.
36. Thread handsewing needle with 36 ” of thread, knotted at one end. Take big but fairly regular stitches, approximately ¼” – 3/8” apart, close to the folded edge. Start and stop on inside of circle.

37. Pull both thread tails and draw yo-yo up as tight as possible. Knot but do not cut thread tails.

38. Use one thread tail to hand stitch yo-yo to center of print rosette. Use the other to sew the ribbon rose in place.

HURRAH! Finished.