Best Child’s Hooded Towel

Hello beautiful! Babies, toddlers, parents and grandparents alike LOVE these towels. If you are anything like me, you find bath time with little ones to be a special time of giggles, snuggles and good smells. These towels wrap your child in homemade practicality and love!

Making these towels ranks right up there as one of my favorite things to sew. They are each original, combine texture and pretty fabrics, and can be easily done in a short time.

I started making these hooded towels when my granddaughter Lauren was born three years ago. Since then, I have made many! I found a second tutorial and making them is a breeze. I will show you both finished towels, along with the tutorial links, and my tips for improvement.

Skill Level: Beginner Time: Quick

Materials:

One large bath towel
One hand towel
Strip of pre-washed cotton fabric, 25″ x 4″
Jumbo or medium Ric-rac or 1/2″ single-fold bias tape, 50″ (1.5yards)
Thread to match towel and top stitch on fabric
Sewing machine, scissors
#90 or 100 sewing machine needle
Optional: serger, rotary cutter, mat, ruler

Tutorials:

Single-thickness, rounded hood (my favorite and the one I advise you try first, as my tips follow this one) – Rounded hood

Pointed, double thickness hood (smaller hood) – Pointed hood here

Tips and Tricks:

My favorite towels are the JCPenney Quick-Dri. They come in many colors, are soft, medium weight, and the hand towel has only a hemmed edge on the short ends. When those are cut off (to make it 24″) there is no extra trim on the hood, which means more terry to dry that cute little head of hair! (Note: While most any towel can be used, I would stay away from very thick, heavy towels, as seams will be too thick to sew.)
Call me crazy. I like finished seams. I’ve seen hoods made with an unfinished seam inside. They ravel, catch lint and look messy. While I like the rounded hood tutorial best (unless you specifically want a double-thickness smaller hood), it needs a finished inside seam. While you can always use a zig-zag stitch, I have two other methods to show you. First, look at the long edge of the hand towel. In step 2 of the Round hood tutorial, you will cut one side off. Using that cut off edging, open the stitching and iron it like a piece of folded bias tape (first in half and press, then open and fold each edge just enough to press.) It then makes a nice edge piece to attach to cover the seam allowance.

The other method is to serge the edge. While most of us don’t have a serger, or overlock machine, I think it’s the best finish. I tried out Sarah’s serger before I gifted it to her last summer, and loved the result. Quick, no raveling, no bumps!
There’s always the question of boys towels. Do you use Ric-rac? Well, why not? If you like it, do it! I have also used bias tape on the edge to add a little spunk, or a decorative stitch on your machine is a fun finish. Here are two examples on the left and right:
Time to wrap it all up for the baby shower! Lay out the towel with the hood at the top. Fold the towel in thirds from the bottom, then each side to the middle. Roll each side to center and tie with a fun ribbon. I have even tied it up with some handy baby links. Add a rubber duck, whale or boat and pull the hood down!
Do you want to make it even more special? Personalize it with a monogrammed name or initials on the hood fabric or above it. If you don’t have a monogram feature on your machine, take it to a local shop where they monogram sports and business attire.
Make one with a beach towel and take it to the pool!