Craft Time at the Ladies' Retreat - Dishcloth Britches

At the annual QMCC Ladies Retreat I mentioned yesterday, different ladies sign up to do different things for the next year's retreat.  One group of ladies signed up to provide a craft for the retreat.  They provided the supplies and showed us how to make "Dishrag Britches".  It was lots of fun for everyone!

Even though I really like to do crafts and do them quite ofen, I've never showed one on my blog before.  I don't know why!  So, I thought you all might enjoy this one and decided to share it with you today.  The little note attached to the britches fit the theme of the retreat as well:  "Promises of God".

Each lady was given a snack-sized ziplock bag with the following items:  poem (with the straight pin at the top)and two pieces of yarn (crochet yarn, I think), each piece about 24 inches long.  We were also given big needles.  I don't know what size they were, but large enough for the two pieces of yarn to go through.  Also, we were given a small piece of tape for the ends of the yarn to make it smaller and more pointed to go through the eye of the needle.  When threading the needle, pull the yarn pieces all the way until there is only about three inches left.  (So the one side would be 21 inches of yarn and the other side would be 3 inches.)

Fold dishcloths in half and lay down on a table, unfolded sides touching. On the second row of the red stripe or approximately 1/3 of the way down on the dishcloths,  insert the needle from the front side of one dishcloth, going to the back through the second layer, then over to the other dishcloth, come up from the back - sewing the two pieces together.  Pull the yarn until the loose side is about 3 inches long.  Cut the yarn on the other side to about 3 inches.  Tie a bow.

Repeat these steps on the very middle of the two dishcloths, which happened to be on the next stripe on these cloths.  Only make two of these bows before moving to the top edge.

At the top, begin on one side and stitch wide (about one inch) stiches (only going through ONE thickness) all the way around to the other side, ending at the center of the other dishcloth. Pull the strings to gather the top, which makes the "waist" of the britches.  Cut the longer yarn again to

about 3 inches and tie a bow.

Now do the same thing as was done on the top, except do each "leg" of the dishcloth britches seperately.  I began at the middle of each dishcloth instead of the inside edge because I wanted the bow in the middle of the leg.

Pin the poem on the britches.

Here's the poem.  It does have one typo where it has YOUHAVE.  Should be YOU HAVE.  It was so neat that the ladies who provided this craft wrote a special note mentioning God's promises to go along with the retreat theme.

Here are two of the ladies showing their finished dishcloth britches.  Don't they look cute?

If the directions don't make sense, let me know!  Sewing isn't my thing at all :).  I tried to be specific, but something it may be confusing.  Anyway, this craft would make a neat homemade gift.