The other day I saw this post about hooded towels at Sew Like My Mom, and knew I had to make these for my kids. Now you may think that a hooded towel is something for a baby or toddler, but you would be mistaken! My big kids love hooded towels and have tried to squeeze into the baby ones that for some reason are still in the linen closet. They have friends who have hooded beach towels that they take to the pool, and my kids have looked longingly at them all summer long. So now that I had the instructions on how to make one myself, I got to work.
These hooded towels uses regular sized bath towels and hand towels sewn together; so technically they could fit an adult...I tried them on and they were so snuggly that I may just make one for myself! I went digging in the linen closet and found 2 white bath towels and 2 white hand towels that looked like they had maybe been used once. Perfect! Then with my coupon to the fabric store in hand I bought some remnants that would be used for the edging on the hood and for a bit of decoration on the back of the towel.
The process of making a hooded towel is fairly simple. First I took the hand towel, folded it in half, measured 6 inches along the folded edge then cut from there diagonally to the corner.
I then took my remnant, and cut a strip 5 inches wide by about 24 inches long. This ended up being a little too long, so measure the distance along the cut edge of your hand towel to determine the exact length you need. Then I basically made bias tape out of the fabric by folding the edges of the fabric to the center then folding the whole thing in half again long ways. In the end you have your fabric folded to 1/4 of the width with edges folded to the inside.
Position your homemade bias tape along the cut edge of your hand towel, pin it, then sew it on.
Take your hand towel and refold it in half with the fabric edge along one side. Sew the other side of the towel to make the back of the hood. At this point right sides of your hood are on the inside. Turn the hood right side out so the seam on the back of the hood is now on the inside.
Take the neck part of your hood and center that onto the center of one side of your bath towel. The curve of the hood will make the neck not lay completely straight against the side of the towel, but do your best and pin this in place. Sew the right sides of the hood and bath towel together.
Now you can be finished if you like, or you can embellish a bit. I added a fabric Hot Wheels panel to the back of The Boy's towel and the Girl wanted her initial on the back of hers made in the same fabric as the hood edging. You can also add little hand pockets to make it easier for little hands to hold the towel closed, or not, it's up to you.