Hooded Towel DIY

With the weather warming up, I decided to sign my child up for swim lessons, but I realized, I don’t have any kids towels! Of course I could just use a boring beach towel, but it wont stay on, and it isn’t nearly as fun as a hooded towel. So I decided to turn one of my very large beach towels into a super cute towel for my kid! This way I can put it on them and it will stay on. This project only takes one towel and less than an hour.

Materials

• One towel – you will need a large beach towel (mine was 36″x68″)
• matching thread
• matching 1/2 double fold bias tape

Making the hooded towel

The first step is to lay out the towel, measure ten inches from binding and cut (so you have two rectangles, 10″x36″ and 36″x58″)

Now you need to bind the open edge of your main towel piece. Open your bias tape and pin the edge of the tape to the edge of the towel. Make sure to leave about an inch of extra bias tape along both ends. Sew along the first seam in the bias tape.

Next, fold in the edges of the bias tape and pin.

Fold the bias tape along the sew line, then fold it over the raw edge of the towel so it is completely covered. Sew 3/8″ away from the edge of the towel.

Next, cut the neck hole for the hood to go. Fold your towel into half long ways, then again the other way. Make sure it is a precise as possible.

Find the corner that indicated the center of the towel.

Mark 6″ away from the corner in multiple spots, then use those marks to draw a line to create a quarter circle. Cut along the circle.

Making the hood

You will use the extra piece of fabric cut at the beginning to make your hood. Fold your fabric in half and line up the corners. You will want to keep as much original binding as you can so you will be working in the corner of the fabric.

Measure a 10″x11″ rectangle and use a marker to make the hood shape. Cut, you’ll have two hood pieces

Sew the back/curved pieces together, pin the right sides together and sew with 1/2 ” seam allowance.

Next, use the bias tape to bind the raw edges of the hood. Open the bias tape halfway (only open the first fold so you can still see both sides folded in) Tuck the raw edges into the pockets that the bias tape has created and pin. You want the seam to be open to help reduce the bulk of the hood. Leave an extra inch on both sides.

Next, we need to tuck the extra bias tape in. Make a small cut along the middle fold of the tape.

Fold the tape in over the seam allowance and pin down. Repeat on the other sides. On the side that is going to be the front of the hood, hand sew the bias tape down in the front so the bias tape won’t be as noticeable.

Sew 3/8′ away from the middle crease in the bias tape on both sides, then sew down the middle seam. This will keep the seam allowance as flat and non-bulky as possible.

Putting it all together

Start by taking your main piece and marking the center back of your head hole. Line the center of your hood up with the center back. Putting right sides together, pin the hood onto the main towel part. There will be a small gap in the front.

Last, use the bias tape to bind your neck hole. Do this the same way you bound the raw edge of the towel. (if you need more help, especially with finishing off the neck, see my article on finishing the neck of a garment)

That’s it! You’re all done, enjoy the pool and your hooded towel!