Hooded Towel {tutorial}

My friend Dawn taught me how to make these way back when. (talk about teaching a guy how to fish!) I've made so many of them since then for shower gifts, for my kids, teaching my sisters how to make them for their kids...and their friends...So, I thought I'd post a little reminder how-to for anyone to look back and remember how to make these... or to teach anyone else how to make them, too.

{just don't make one if I'm going to the same baby shower as you..deal? :)}

There are so many different ways to doll these up...I especially love Ivy's ruffly one, but here's the basic how to. You can get frisky decorating it later!

{finished products}

to make 2 hooded towels, all you need is:

2 bath towels (I enjoy getting them at TJMaxx, or Marshalls because they're nicer for cheaper)

1 hand towel

ribbon of choice (enough to stretch across the width of the hand towel, and if you want to get really crazy, across the width of the bath towel twice)

scissors, sewing machine, thread...yadayada

{you might as well make 2 if you're going to make one, otherwise you just waste half of a hand towel!}

here we go: (sorry If I'm over-the-top basic, you never know, right?!)

1. Take the hand towel and fold it in half {hamburger way}.

2. very precisely cut it in half. {you could use your rotary, but I just hold it up and chop it in half(ish)

you only need 1 half to make 1 hooded towel

3. decide where you want your ribbon to go. Lots of times, the best place is to cover up the weird pattern they put on towels, but wherever you like it best! {you can also use big ric rac, ruffles, or nothing!

this is where we're putting the ribbon... leave an inch or so on either side just in case something stretches or shrinks while you're sewing (not that I have any experience with that) and trim off the rest.

4. Pin it down! (I hate to pin, but stinkin just do it!)

5. Sew along both sides of the ribbon as close to the edge of each side as you dare. You don't have to tack it down, and you don't have to sew up the width of the ribbon as you'll do that later.

this is what it should look like.

6. Fold it back how you'd like the cuff to look. There is no set measurement for where you should fold it. Some towels have that weird pattern thing in different spots, so just make a generous fold, but don't fold it all the way in half.

7. Pin it how you want it. You will sew up both sides of the towel first, and then in the ditch along the finished edge of the towel so that you don't create a pocket. does that make sense?

you can see where we pinned it: up along each edge, and then across the finished edge.

8. Fold it in half, right sides together, so that the end of the ribbons meet.

9. You have this raw edge where you cut off the other half of the towel...sew the two raw edges together.

10. sew a line across the corner of the raw edge (that you just sewed shut) and the part of the towel that you folded in half to make a triangle. You can see where she started sewing...

...and what the triangle looks like at the end. This just makes it so you don't have a pokey head. you can trim the triangle off if you want, just leave about a 1/4 of an inch.

11. Turn your sucker right-side-out...and this is what you SHOULD have. You're totally almost done!

12. Take one of your bath towels and fold it in half and lay it on the floor. (I have to do it this way because I'm not smart enough to do it any other way...if you have a better brain, you don't have to do it the blonde way!)

13. Place your finished 'hood' next to it, on the fold so that it looks like it should when it's finished...like the picture. (they should each be folded in half, so just line the folds up)

14. Pinch the center of each towels fold together...like this:

15. and then you can pick up the towels and pin the center of each fold together...

...like this.

16. All you have left to do is finish pinning the rest of the hood onto the top of the towel on either side of that center pin, and then sew it straight across, making sure to tack both sides down

17. Remove your pins and you've got yourself the best towel ever!

You can also sew ribbon on the edge of each side of the bath towel, as shown, but you don' t have to. I like how it ties them together.

(thanks Mel, for being my model!)

If I wasn't clear, let me know, writing instructions is sooo hard!