Today I will show you how I made hooded towels for my children. I have learned this method over the internet, and it’s super easy and common. In this article, I have tried to keep things very simple and comprehensible so you can learn the basic technique.
After learning the basic technique, you can further enhance your hooded towels by adding different embroideries or auxiliary pieces like a belt around the waist or ears on the cap. So, let’s just jump into quick and easy hooded towel-making.
Things you need
- Hand towel.
- Regular body towels of the same color and fabric.
- Embellish the towel.
- Terry cloth. 16.5” x 12”.
- Scissor.
- Thread.
- Sewing machine/serger.
- Applique scrap piece of fabric: Heat and bond.
- Pins clipper tape.
- Measuring tape.
- Ruler.
How to Make a Hooded Towel: Step by Step
Step 1. Cutting Terry for Cap
The first thing you need to do is to cut out a piece of terry fabric from your hand towel for the cap of the hoodie. Keep the dimensions of that piece at about 12”x16”.
Now, as terry fabric frays away, you also need to stitch its cut edges as well properly. For that, first make a straight stitch with a 3/8” margin from the edge and then make a zigzag stitch over the edge. Do the same for every edge that you have cut.
Step 2. Applique Preparation (Optional)
As you would be making this hooded towel for kids, we recommend you add some embellishments to it. For that, I would be applying applique over the hoodie cap.
To prepare an applique, first you need to cut out a desired shaped fabric from any cut-piece or extra piece of fabric.
Then to paste it on the towel, we would apply a heat bond on the back of this piece. For that, place the shiny side of the heat bond sticker onto the false side of the fabric and dry ion it. Then peel off the paper attached to the heating bond.
Step 3. Applying Applique
Now place the shiny side of the applique on the center top of the towel cap and dry iron it as well. Now we will take it to the sewing machine and blanket stitch the applique onto the towel cap.
You can apply more appliques in the same way wherever you like.
Step 4. Preparing Towel Cap
Now, we will prepare a towel cap from the piece of 12”x16”. For that, first you need to fold the towel 5” down. Now, to make a tapered cap, you need to mark 5” inward on both sides of the piece. This is shown below. You should use pins or clips to keep the fold in place prior to sewing.
You can detect triangles on both ends that are to be cut off. But as the towel frays, you need to close them properly. For this, you can simply use a serger machine, but in this section, I will teach you to close the opening with a simple sewing machine.
First, make a straight stitch from points 1 to 2 and cut off the triangular corners while leaving a 3/8” margin. Now through a zigzag stitch, close the openings.
Step 5. Contouring the Cap
To add contours to your hooded towel cap, you need to make a gathering on the back of the cap. For this, you simply need a threaded needle. Mark two points 4” away from each side. Pass the threaded needle from one point to the other point. Now gently gather the fabric on the thread evenly. Gather it until the cap base shrinks to 14”.
Step 6. Sewing Cap and Towel Together
This is the last step to make a hooded towel, where we will sew the cap and towel together. First, turn the cap inside out and place the center of the cap on the center of the towel. Now simply stitch two pieces of the towel either by zigzag stitch or blanket stitch.
Concluding Remarks
Now as you have not only made your first hooded towel but have also learned a new skill. So, you must use these skills on different projects, making a variety of hooded towels of different colors, shapes, and sizes with different embellishments. Good luck with the rest of your sewing projects.
Hello, My name is Malinda Spicer. in my 10th grade, my granny gifted me a mechanical sewing machine. Since then, my whole life revolves around sewing. I made my hobby into a profession by getting a professional degree in fashion designing. I had learned quite well about sewing in the past 20 years. I hope to be of help by sharing these experiences and expert advice with my fellow sewers.
