How To Make A Hooded Towel

I know that people have been making hooded towels for what seems like forever, but I finally got around to making one for my little boy.  I found some towels in the Wal-Mart clearance section (2 towels, 2 hand towels, and 2 wash clothes for $4.00-I thought that I did pretty well) so I decided that it was finally time to give it a try. Everyone needs a nice warm towel when you get out of the water, and as we are gearing up for summer camp outs and reunions it seemed like the opportune time to give this project a go.

I made up a tutorial as I began sewing...but I somehow misplaced it.  If I ever find the paper I'll type the instructions up for you, but until then I will redirect you to some other places for inspiration and instruction.  My favorites are Skip To My Lou, and Infarantly Creative.

The hooded towel that I made is pretty simple.  I used 1 full size towel, 1/2 of a hand towel, 1 package of Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape, some scraps of fabric, and a bit of iron on adhesive for the applique.

Here are a few little things that I did to personalize the hooded towel.

I rounded the corners of the hood. If you visit infarrantly creative you will see that she softened the corner of the hood by sewing on the diagonal.  I did this, but after sewing it ended up with two sharp points on the back of the hood.  I then stitched  the ends of the seam and rounded them for a smoother line.

I love how some of the tutorials out there gather the back of the towel, it just looks cute in my opinion, but I found this great tutorial that pleats the back.  Pleats seem a bit more masculine to me.  So I gave it a try.  I wish that I hadn't put the pleat quite so low in the back.  I think that it would have looked better an inch higher.

I wanted a bit of contrasting color on the towel so I used some bias tape that I had lying around the house to edge the towel.  I did not apply the tape around the entire towel, but that would be super cute.  I just sewed the tape around the two top edges of the towel and around the hood.  I applied the tape before I sewed the two pieces together. If you don't like working with bias tape I have seen some adorable towels that are adorned with ribbon and ricrac.

I printed off a large letter "C" to use as a pattern for the applique.  Cut out a circle of fabric just larger than the "C", and fused my "C" to my circle of fabric with iron on adhesive.  waited to applique the towel until after I had sewn the project together, but this could be done at any time.

 Hint-I learned this the hard way, but if you are planning to finish off the edges around your applique, cut your iron on adhesive slightly smaller than your shape.  Because I cut my adhesive to size I made my share of exasperated gasps and snarls. My machine does not like to stitch through 3 layers of fabric plus 2 layers of iron on adhesive.  My stitches wouldn't lock together....and I still have an unfinished applique.  

  As you can see Clark quite enjoys his towel.  It is always a fight to get it away from him after a bath.  He likes to carry it around like a blanket.