Sew A Hooded Baby Towel

This is the perfect sewing project for a new mom.

I have been “thinking” about making this project forever!  My “baby” is now 14 months old, a total busy body and getting into everything! With Tanner getting bigger and bigger each day, it was time that I made the baby towel and got my act together.

This towel is fairly easy to sew and you can finish it in few hours. It’s a great beginner project! All you need is terry towel, fun colorful fabric and your sewing materials.

And great news – I made the hood pattern piece and am sharing it for free. Click here to download the PDF pattern – Hood-Pattern-Piece-June-20131.pdf

Materials needed:

1. Terry towel
2. Cotton fabric
3. Rotary cutter, cutting mat, creative grids ruler
4. Disappearing Fabric ink pen
5. Sewing materials and sewing machine
6. Iron and ironing board

Note – Cutting the main fabric for the towel is not shown in the images below. Lay the terry towel flat on a large cutting area. Measure and mark a 30″ x 30″ square. Cut the terry towel to this size.

Part A: Cut your fabric and prepare the binding:

1. Pin the hooded piece down on the terry and colorful fabric. Cut one of each.
2. Place wrong sides together and pin the 2 pieces together. Baste together along the outside edge.
3. Round each outside corners of the 30″ x 30″ towel.
4. Cut your binding strips. [3″ width]. Not sure on how to cut binding? I created an easy tutorial on how to cut binding..
5. Place your binding perpendicular to each other. Pin in place.
6. Use a ruler and mark the sewing line with a disappearing ink pen. This step will help guide you when sewing the binding together.
7. Place in sewing machine and sew.
8. Trim the seam allowance to be 1/4″ [Not shown]. Iron the seam. Open seam and iron again.
9. For the binding, you will need about 140″ in length.

Part B:  Sew the hood piece and attach the binding:

1. Fold the binding in half and press. Press the entire binding in half.
2. From the binding that you made, cut a strip 19″ long.  This will finish the bottom hood edge. Pin to bottom edge of hood piece. Place in sewing machine and sew.
3. With the binding laying flat, press the seam.  Open and iron the seam again.
4. Roll the binding to the back side and cover the raw edge.  Pin in place if it helps. Iron to set the seam.
5. Place in your sewing machine and edgestich along the folded edge. The raw seams will now be enclosed by the binding.
6. Place the hood at corner of towel and pin in place.  Note that there will be extra room in the middle for the baby’s head. Baste the pieces together.
7. Finish the entire outside edge of the towel with the binding. Start at a straight edge and pin the binding along the raw edge.
8. Sew the entire length of the binding around the towel. Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 above for the outside of the towel.

That’s it! Your baby towel is complete.  I hope you enjoy sewing it as much as I did.