Sarongs and DIY Beach Towel Tips - Fastening Magnets & Warning! post 542

 

In tropical Singapore, where temperatures are in the eighties fahrenheit or nineties all year, I swam every day for a short time and covered up completely walking to and from the pool to control sun exposure to decrease my chances of getting skin cancer. I had inserted zips in wrap-around towelling dressing gowns to stop gaps letting in sunlight.

A tip for attaching beach towels around your chest. Many uses. Not just for the beach. For the bathroom at home. Or answering the door in a hotel. Or racing out if the fire alarm rings and you smell smoke. (Especially if you sleep nude in hot weather or for other reasons)

I have a lot of experience of fastening towels to wear.

Sarongs - Ready-made Fastening

1 Thick Towelling

First, most obviously, wear a thin beach towel as a sarong. I have bought ready-made sarongs. 1 The early towelling ones were good, but cheap, thick towelling. Eventually looke towelling ends up shabby with loose threads hanging all over. I snipped them off. 

2 Synthetic Towelling

My second version was a synthetic fabric which was light to carry, did not fray, but was not so good at drying me.

3 Wrap style

I bought a modern wrap version in a large size to be sure the armholes were big enough and because it would be longer, making me look taller.

 \However, this meant that it was wide at the shoulders. So it looked lopsided. It also kept slipping off. 

I did not return it. With some sewing, it could have been made to fit. But I have not yet got around to it.

DIY Sarong Fastenings

Convert a beach towel into a sarong. Add a belt and spagetti straps for a beachside bar or restaurant which requires cover-up clothes because of signs, or just to look like everyone else. 

Sew on a snap / press stud fastener or hook and eye, maybe two of them, or three, four, even five at neck, chest, waist, knee, hem. Add decorative sew on ribbons or patches.

Multi-Use / Convertible

Use it to carry the towel, two-in-one towel, worn as a garment and used for drying yourself after swimming. 

Three in one -

1 Wear it to the beach or swimming pool. 

2 Lay it on  the beach or pool lounger, 

3 Use it to dry off, then wear it back to your apartment or hotel bedroom for cover-up in the lift (Americans say elevator). 

Make it into a carry bag for swimsuits, wet swimsuits or dry swimsuits.

Troubleshooting Tip

To prevent magnets sticking to the inside of a washer-dryer machine, make an envelope on the fabric with a button and loop fastening, Velcro (hook and loop) fastening, or a removable pocket to contain the magnet.  

You can also buy mutliple small magnets sold as floristry magnets for fixing corsages. This enables you to save money, put more magnets on one garment, or use two or three towels in different colours to match two ore more swimsuits if you leave one drying for 24 hours and wear the other one the next day.

Rescued Towel

I once found an abandoned, torn towel in a lovely pattern. I cut off the torn part. To make a hole for the head, a cut a diamond shape in the middle. At first I did not bother to fasten the sides. Later I added ties. Magnets would have been quick.

You can also make a caftan from an outsize scarf or saree or saree scarf. A thin fabric drapes well, A see through fabric might snag. However, the see-through effect can easily, quickly, be rescued by wearing an underslip.

My next job is to order floristry magnets. They must be large enough to secure the garment, or I shall need more than one on each garment. I love learning new tricks and tips for saving sarongs and scarves.

WARNING

Don't have detchable small magnets if you are around children under three, in case they swallow the magnets.

Useful Websites

https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice/product/magnet-safety

Please share links to your favourite posts. If you already shared this before I added the warning, please send again.