chenille bathrobe

Five years ago, the girl I nannied for had a chenille bathrobe that I liked enough to sketch a crude pattern of. Last year, as I was about to donate a chenille bedspread to the Salvation Army, I hung it up in my project closet instead. Last weekend I made a bathrobe. It has a giant hood and accommodating pockets. I plan to fashion a bunny out of white silk to inhabit the pocket indefinitely. His belly will be a zippered pouch to hold gum. Practical.

At any given moment, there is a 50/50 chance I'll be wearing this.

How to:

Any blanket or old sheet is large enough to make into a bathrobe. The pattern shown above is the exact pattern I used. Find an over-sized button-down shirt in your closet, or nab a man friend's shirt, and use its midsection width to find a waist measurement. Each side of the front will be half of this with a seam allowance of 1/2". You can determine the length of sleeves and final length using the button-down as a guide.

Hood is optional. I consider it a napping hood. Pockets are, as always, optional but recommended. I finished the robe by sewing two small strips of fabric as beltloops on either side of the waist and fashioning a long tie of the same material. Basically, each addition takes your original blanket or sheet one step away from toga and one step closer to bathrobe but you can stop wherever you like on the spectrum.