My SIL recently humbly approached me with a gift idea for her upcoming birthday: a version of the Sprints seat cover towel meant for protecting your car seat from post-workout sweat. She wondered if I could make one and yeah, I totes could.
The original is something like 90% polyester/10% nylon - so mostly to keep moisutre off the seat rather than absorb it. I asked if that’s what she wanted and she said regular towel material was what she was looking for. So I had a look at the specs and pics of this item and then ordered 2 bath sheets and one bath towel in a shade of green which is her favorite color. A bath sheet is close to the size of these towels and I decided to make her two of them so one could be in the laundry and she’d still have one. The bath towel was to make the “pocket” that fits over the headrest.
So, I realllly wanted to at least round the corners on this, but I wanted to give her as close to what the original was as I could, especially as I don’t know what her car seats look like.
To keep the terry cloth bulk down on the seam that I would get by sewing right sides together, I decided to sew them wrong sides together and then finish with bias binding which I already had! Green is also my favorite color and I have lots of prints in my stash that are mostly green, but this is the only one that really coordinated with the green of this towel. Whew!
AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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What a clever and useful gift! I bet it would be great on those hot, uncomfortable days when you sweat just doing nothing! Thanks for sharing how you did it…the bias binding adds a nice personal touch and a bit of color as well!
@AIMR She’s very active, so I bet is getting back in her car all summer after trail running, bicycling, etc. She said that a regular towel just slides around. I remember my 1970s little-kid-self burning the backs of my thighs on many a vinyl car seat in summer and these would’ve been great!
@Immaculata Me, either. I remember years ago reading in a Martha Stewart Living magazine about using terrycloth towels as a source for making terrycloth robes. Less expensive and a lot more color options. In this case, it also saved me from having to sew very much at all with raw edges of terry cloth.
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AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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I actually need to make another terry cloth robe for my husband. Towels are always on sale! I remember the pattern was sort of a kimono style using two big towels for the body and one for the sleeves…very simple. Just need to add a belt and whatever embellishments you need!
Genius!! I need to make these for my daughters. They like those short shorts and run around all summer long with the littles! These would be lifesaving.
What? This is a thing? How COOL! I will certainly be borrowing your idea to make some for our truck for after paddleboard, swim, etc. Such a neat idea!
@AIMR You’re a good wife. Sewing with terry cloth is not fun. Between that and the cost of terry by the yard, I totally understand why a store bought terry robe is kind of expensive.
@Magpie Oh, something like this would be great for you! Especially since you know what your vehicle seats are like, so you can custom fit them. It bothers me that these are not, but I also expect she’ll be using them in more than one car.
Yes! I’ve done some back seat covers for dogs. My favorite was made from a thrifted matelassé bedcover. Cheap, easy to clean, reversible, easy to work with. Just finished with bias tape.
