The hooded bath towel first came into my life when I was born. My mother received one as a baby gift when she was expecting me. She used the original as a guide to make more, and as tradition now gives a hooded bath towel for baby gifts.
I have carried on the tradition and make hooded bath towels for all my friends having babies. I love picking different themes for the towels depending on gender or what the mothers like.
I love these hooded bath towels because they are made from sturdy towels and they're really big so they last kids a long time.
Here is a picture of my little guy in his hooded towel made by his Grammy.
I took a lot of pictures of each step so I hope it is easy to follow. Once you've made your own hooded bath towel post a picture, I'd love to see your creations.
Happy Sewing!
Hood:
*** If you want to put any ribbon on the hood sew that on first before proceeding.
1. Fold the hand towel length wise, right sides together.
2. Start from the side without the tag and measure 10.5 inches and pin in at least 3 spots. Cut along the pins and then sew leaving a 1/2 inch allowance (from the needle).
3. Flip the hood right side out and fold so the top comes to a point. Sew back and forth a couple inches from the top to form a triangle.
Now the hood is done!
Body of the Towel:
*** Any ribbon embellishes can be sewn on before or after it doesn't matter.
1. Fold the towel in half width wise, wrong sides together. Make sure the tag is on the inside bottom.
2. Place a pin at the center crease of the fold. Measure 3/4 inch from the center fold and place a pin on both sides.
3. Place another pin 2 1/2 inches out from the one you just placed.
4. Fold back and forth twice and pin in place. Do this on both sides. Match the ends of the towel together to make sure everything is center. (I had to redo this one.)
Below is an example of it not matching up very well. The second picture down I redid it and then it matched up much better.
5. Sew all of this together, doubling back on the ends where it is the thickest (I placed pins in the second picture down to show where to double back.)
Now the body of the towel is done!
Attaching Hood & Finishing Touches:
1. Lay out the hood and towel. Match the middles together and pin.
2. Fold the towel in half to see if the edges of the hood match up. You may have to re adjust.
(In the picture my edges didn't match the first time so I had to make a small adjustment. If the sides don't match perfectly I usually just make a small adjustment when I go to sew by pulling one side further up instead of going back and re-pinning the whole thing.)
3. Sew the hood onto the body of the towel. Double back on the edges to insure a secure hold.
4. Now you can add any other embellishments you want. I always put something on the very top of the hood like a button or ribbon.
This towel I did for a friend having a little boy. Have fun with finding different ribbons, buttons or even iron-on decals to personalize your hooded bath towel.
Here are some more pictures of other towels I've made over the years.
