I’ve made each of my kids their own bath towel hoodie when they’re born, starting with my son 6 years ago. I make them one with their name on it and one with a fun appliqued shape on the back. These towels are super easy to make, needing only limited sewing know-how. And they make for great birthday or baby shower presents for others.
Supplies for Bath Towel Hoodies:
- one large bath towel – any color
- one hand towel – any color
- fabric for letters – can be anything. I use fleece and it does pill, but I don’t mind as it doesn’t fray.
- scissors, pins, sewing machine
- extras: ric-rac, double bias tape
First, cut your hand towel in half horizontally. Then lay out your large bath towel on the floor and center one of the cut pieces of hand towel on top of the towel. Put the cut side up, so that the sewn end in the one being sewn to the large bath towel, then you don’t have to fold over the edge.
Updated: You only need one half of the hand towel to make one hooded bath towel. I usually buy 1 hand towel and 2 bath towels, and it gives me two hooded bath towels. 
Pin the cut hand towel to the large towel and sew in place. It doesn’t really matter how you sew them together, I actually like to sew them on top of each other, not right sides together. But either is fine.
Fold your hood together in half, pairing the cut side together. Sew this together. I don’t mind that the seams show and will fray a little after washing, this is the part that is on the inside and their heads cover that.
You could be done here, but I like to add a few extras, a name or a shape to the back that I applique to the towel. I’m no expert and not a perfectionist, so most times the applique comes out a little wonky! I cut out letters/shape from fabric, pin them on, sew around each with a zig-zag stitch and call it good!
I’ve also added some double-bias tape to my newest baby’s towel, down the sides and on the hood.
Have fun making your kids some new towels. I’m actually thinking I should make one for me!!
Written by Marie LeBaron
Marie LeBaron is the founder and managing editor of Make and Takes. Always having a love of crafts, she enjoys getting messy with glue and glitter. There’s always some sort of project going on, her kitchen counter is often cluttered with crafts. When she’s not crafting and creating with her kids, she loves to run, read, and blog! Read other posts by Marie
{ 130 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow!!! I love this. My daughters have hooded towels and I have always wished I could make them instead of having to buy them. Thanks for the clear tutorial!
Great! My kiddos love hooded towels, but the ones I have are getting a little small for the four year old. This will be perfect–and what a GREAT idea for birthday gifts. Yippee! Frugal and easy.
What a great idea, my kids would love one of those and it would be a great project for my 9yo who is just learning to sew!
I love these! A friend of mine does this, but have wondered how she does this. Great tutorial…will make great gifts for the nephews, nieces and our kids some day. I love doing applique’ on my machine, too.:)
Thanks for this! I made one of these years ago with my mom’s assistance. I have been wanting to make some for my boys, but couldn’t remember how (and hadn’t taken the time to look it up). Thank you!
So cute and perfect for upcoming warmer weather and pool days! :)
I have made these using a washcloth for the hood. They are soooo much warmer than those thin baby towels, too!
Thank you soooooo much! I’ve been wondering how to do these and now I know thanks to you. Now I can make them for my children as well as their cousins for their birthdays and such.
My kids love their hooded towels. I make some very similar to yours. I actually just posted it on my blog a few days ago. Great minds think a like!
I had a co-worker give me one of these that she made for a baby shower gift and it’s still (after nearly 4 years!) one of my favorite towels for my sons. It’s SO much better (more absorbent!) than one of thin baby hooded towels that you buy.
I should do this! I hate how tiny the baby hooded towels are, and flimsy.
THESE ARE AWESOME!!! I will have to try and make some for the kids!
I was JUST looking at the one that Cindy did at Skip to My Lou…….you guys are so lucky you can sew! This looks like MAYBE something I might be able to try.
Love it.
very cool; I’ll have to try this; the kids love the hooded baby towels still. they’ll have fun picking stuff out and helping make these too! thanks for all of your awesome ideas.
What a cute and simple project! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so excited I found this tutorial. My oldest son got two of these at his baby shower and I want MORE now that I have another child. They are really great. I never thought about adding an applique. Great idea! I know my pregnant friends would love one too. Yay, thank you!
I got one at a baby shower and have been wondering how to make it. Thanks!
Does anyone have any idea where to find animal patterns for hooded towels? I’ve heard of some called “animal life patterns”, but haven’t been able to find them. Thanks!
love it! It’s good to have a visual on how to make these . . . when i eventually get married and have kids! and i had to comment on how cute your littlest is! I haven’t seen her since she was barely born in the hospital! I am LOVING those eyes!
That is SO cute! I will definitely have to try to make one (or more) of those for my grandson! Thank you :)
Great idea, Marie!! I love it, and it looks really simple!
I just got hooked on these too. It couldn’t have come at a better time as I had 3 friends due in the span of a couple of weeks. Easy as can be, cute, and a whole lot more durable than the store-bought hooded towels.
Forgot to add… To not let the other half of the handtowel go to waste, I sewed mine into a bath mitt.
Great idea! Thanks for the pictures too. It really helps me to see the step by step process. You always have such awesome ideas and make it seem so easy!
I was just looking for easy step by step directions that were like this to make towels for my kids. Thanks!
Thank you for posting this!!! I’ve been wondering how my aunt made mine for F. It’s my favorite…
I love those towels! They are my favorite! We have a family friend that gave them to us when each of our kids were born!! My son is six now and I STILL use them!! What a great idea to share!!
Onna
This is a great idea!! I’ve often lamented the choice in towels for my boys but this is something I hadn’t thought of. I will be trying this out when my school goes on semester break. It looks simple enough even for someone like me that can’t even thread a needle.
I’ve loved these for years but have never made one. A friend made each of our girls one, and they use them constantly!
Thanks for your simple instructions. I might try them now!
This is awesome. Thank you, thank you. I’ll make one for my daughter’s birthday coming up. So simple, for me who doesn’t sew!!
I love these towels. Someone gave us one as a gift a few years ago and now my mom makes them for me.
First: What a DOLL. How lucky are you?
This would make a great Easter Basket filler. Putting these on my list.
We love these! Our pastor’s wife makes these for baby gifts. Each of my kids have one made by her!
Your tutorial is so clear, I think I might actually be able to do this! And the girls would love it.
Yay!
Seeing this brought back so many memories. I made these for my kids 24 years ago and for many baby shower gifts. Funny how things come around again…or good ideas never go away. Your towels turned out great.
Thanks for sharing! That looks really easy. I’m sure I could do that! :)
I love it! And it totally gets me excited for pool season! I’ll be linking.
Really cute idea! I think I will have to make one for my niece!
Very cute and looks relatively inexpensive to make.
My son has one of these and I LOVE it! In fact, I just bought a towel to use for my little one that’s due in a few weeks.
Just a note…Rather than cutting a handtowel in half, you can just use a washcloth!!
This is great!
Thanks for the great tute!
Ok, so I’m inspired to make these for my two girls as Easter gifts. I’ve purchased all the stuff…cotton candy colored towels on sale at Target and lime green and purple bias tape. Now I’m trying to figure out at what step you do the bias tape on the hood so it blends in with the towel. I’m kind of a newbie seamstress so I could use lots of advise! Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing! Super sweet pics!
http://zachandsarahmay.blogspot.com/2009/04/hoodie-towel.html
I made 4 for my sons and 2 nieces. They turned out pretty well for my first try. Thanks for the pics it helped alot!
I’m so excited to find this! I have been looking for a tutorial on how to make these. :) One question though… (I’m a newbie sewer, forgive me) will the towels go through my sewing machine?
PA Lisa – If you want to add the bias tape, sew the hood together first, add the bias tape, then sew the hood on to the larger towel.
Catherine – Yes, your towel will go through. If it’s too thick, it may be tight, but mine went through easily.
How cute and easy! I’m definitely going to whip one up for my little one. I’ve been thinking of making her a terry cloth robe, but this is so much easier!
Thank you so much for getting back to me so fast! It did go through easily and the whole thing was so easy to do. :) I’m now going to try to tackle an applique and maybe some bias tape on the next towel… Thanks again!
Holy moly you have the two cutest kids I’ve ever seen!!
I LOVE this idea! You did a fantastic job with the tutorial. I’m going to try this for my kids.
Thanks!
I do not have a sewing machine, and do not know much about sewing, but am very keen to try. About 2 weeks ago I went out a bought the bath and hand towels and now just tonight have found your great tutitorial. My girls are still using the newborn hooded towel they recieved at birth and are commenting it is getting to short.. (they are nearly 4 and 3)… this should be perfect! Can you describe to me what kind of stitch to use (in detail) as I am doing by hand and if its neccessary to wash the towels before I make. Also your photo shows you cutting the hand towel in half.. Do you use the other half or is it saved for some other time. I so appreciate your response. Thanks !
This is great. It so coincidental that ran I ran across this while surfing
last night. I was at my step-daughters house last week and she had a couple hanging in her bathroom for her 4 month old. I thought, gosh these should be easy to make. Your instructions are wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I have three baby showers I am going to in May. These would be perfect!
I found this post through Thrify Craft Mama. What a great idea! I’m going to have a go at making these. Thanks :)
Thanks for the tutorial!! I am such a visual learner! I just made a couple of these for my kiddos and I know they will love them. Thanks!
Thank you for the great tute! thank you for taking the time to write it ! I really appreciate the descriptions .
Thank you soooooo much!
I am so thankful to have found this web site..I saw the hooded bath towel at a baby shower & thought if I had a pattern I could easily make it..I have two Great-Grandbabies due this summer..I am anxious to get started..
I really like the idea, it is easy to do, creative and very useful. I will also try one for my son. By the way your children are very cute, especially the little one.
How awfully creative….a friend sent me you blog link…so glad she did…great place here!
Do you have to sew them? I’ve never sewed and would love to make one for my daughter. Can I just use that adhesive tape stuff that you iron on? I hope so, this looks so cute but I have a major fear of sewing since I don’t know how.
Samantha –
I’m sure there’s other ways to make these. I’ve never used adhesive tape before, but if it can go through the washer and dryer, go for it! But it is really simple to sew, a good first time project to start with. I’ve even had a lady ask about sewing it by hand, as she doesn’t own a sewing machine. She just used a needle and thread and said they turned out great.
Let me know if you did use something else to make this with. Anything is worth a try!
Thanks for the help! I think I’ll definitely have to give it a try! I’ll let you know how it comes out! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for posting the directions for making hooded towels. It was so easy to make! My older kids (7 and 9) still like hooded towels, especially after swimming, and it is all but impossible to buy them in larger sizes. I especially like the idea of appliqueing on them – I just finished a lizard one for my son.
Thanks for this post! It seems so easy! I don’t know why I never thought of making one myself! Now I’m going to go make one for my son! I love using the hooded towels! It is so much easier to wrap him up and dry him head to toe! :)
The tutorial is amazing, the pictures are too.
Thanks for your easy tutorial. It made making my first one “sew” easy. :)
Thank you so much and yes loved the tutorial…now if you would do the same for that little red jacket you made ….lol. Iam going to try to make it for my granddaughter, the towel is a great idea, since we have a pool, and she comes to swim here every week.
My 8 year old granddaughther and I just made the towel as her first sewing project. It was agreat success!.The pictures made it easy for her to follow the instuctions.Thanks for helping make a special memory
from a greatful grandmother
Sharon – Oh I’m so glad! It is a great first-time project! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I make these too! I often use polka dot or patterned towels, and sometimes I add ears with the scraps. My daughter has a pink pig. My son has a brown bear, and I got really crafty with my oldest son and did a shark. I used a white washcloth and added teeth around the edge of the hood, and I used stiff heavy interfacing and made a fin that sticks up from the top of the hood too. Two black buttons for eyes. Cute idea!
Another easy one! Made 2 for my son. Didn’t add any embellishments, but the towels had stripes on them already, so I figured that was enough. Thanks!
I will be linking. I love this your tutorial and it is a great simple gift idea.
thanks!
Thanks for the great idea! I will be linking this!
Thanks for this tutorial – it is great! it inspired me to create a froggy hoodie towel for my little one. I also have made one with a strip of cool looking fabric across the front of the hoodie part. adds a nice touch – and easier than making a face!
thanks again
subha
Love this! I cannot find any baby towels that are as soft as mommy and daddy’s towels… what a great idea!
Thank you for posting these directions! I don’t sew, but this was so simple that I had to try! I made six of these for Christmas gifts, adding pompoms to the pointed hoods. My sister needed hooded towels for her three little kids, but the problem was she couldn’t find any that were bleachable. Walmart now sells some thick, soft, brightly-colored towels that can be bleached without fading the colors. This project cost me about seven dollars per towel, and they came out great! By the way…the kids in your pictures are adorable!
Thanks for wonderful directions. I have now made 18 of these for my grandkids and their friends. I even purchased a special board to help me hoop the towels for machine embroidery. Your directions and pictures are perfect and I have forwarded your site to my sewing friends.
Question: What size towel would you recommend for an infant????? I figured out that a washcloth would take care of the hood. Would you cut a bath towel in half????
Georgia – How fun that you’ve made 18 of these, I’m so glad this tutorial has helped! I’m not quite sure about the infant towel. But I think cutting it in half should work, along with a wash cloth. Let me know how it goes and if that sizing worked!
How great! I even think I might be able to do this! Question: can my plain old, not fancy sewing machine handle sewing through towels? Or do I need anything fancy? Thanks!
Jami – You shouldn’t need anything fancy. I have a cheap $100 machine that I’ve had for 10 years and it works just fine. Just go slow so the needle doesn’t bend if it’s thick. If you need to, try to overlap the towel enough to where you aren’t sewing on the thick edges, but in about 1/2 inch. Maybe that will help.
It worked beautifully! I made two hooded towels today for my kids in about an hour. I bought little patches to sew on the corner for each of them. The longest part was figuring out which way to pin the towels (because I am totally not visual in that way) but now I’ve got it down. What a great birthday gift for friends’ kids – and inexpensive, too! Thank you, Marie!
Thank you for the good pictures and directions. I have made about 5 of these for friends and family. Thanks again!
dear it was very joy one child towel i will make one and thank u for sharing the tip
Thank you so much for the easy explaination on how to make a hooded towel. I just bought a bunch of pirate beach towels from T.J Maxx & want to make them into hooded towels for the beach. Plus, it will make a cute b-day gift. I have an embroidery machine which I will add a name on the back. Something to invest in for the future :)
Nice tutorial! I have a baby towel made similar to this, but the towel is gathered where it’s sewn onto the hood, and the hood has embroidery along the front edge.
Just visting your site for the first time while looking for graham cracker crust. :) Thanks!
Found this last night and could not WAIT to find some older towels to try this out on! Well, I found some today and made one!! I was so excited, i had to call my Mom! So much better than spending 25-45$ on ones from the store! YIKES.. Thanks so much for this!! Can’t wait to start decorating them for my little guy!! Excellent explanation by the way! couldn’t be clearer!! :-) Thanks again!!!
I put this on my blog and linked all the credit to you. Thanks! Staci
I am no good at sewing small things.. going in a straight line is about all I can do.. lol.. I was wondering if iron-on patches/appliques would work on a hooded towel. Thanks for any input!
Hello,
I love your hooded towel tutorial.
Do you have a tutorial for a hooded baby robe.
thanks in advance.
I was recently directed to this tutorial. I love it – a great idea and an equally, well-written instructions. Thank you for posting. Today I am linking up to this tutorial from my blog.
This is AWESOME!!!!!
I just made 3 in under 20 minutes…super easy thanks for sharing the step by step…
this was a gr8 idea my kids and i love making them
Thank You Very Much for Sharing! I’m going to make them for christmas presents this year for my day care kids :)
i love these! JC Penney has bath towels for $3.99 ea. I think I’ll go get some!
featured this today!
Thanks for the easy to follow directions to making these towels! Can’t wait to make them for my 6 grandkids for Christmas! Thank you again!
Really interesting.. thanks for that post.. will tweet it!!
I LOVE how easy this project is!
I linked to you today on my blog
http://lessonsonlongview.blogspot.com/2010/09/christmas-time-is-near.html
This is waaaay too cute! Now, if i’d just learn to use a sewing machine…
Thanks for the super easy tutorial. I made one for my 3 year old son last night. I tried it on him this morning and he loved it. I am going to have to make the hood slightly smaller for my 17 month old daughter though. Thankfully that will be an easy adjustment to make.
Thanks again!
This is so easy. It took me ten minutes to make the towel. Going to add a name and put something along the edges. Great Christmas gift for a kid who has everything!!!!
Also… going to put rounded corners of a washcloth on the hood with eyes on them to make it look like a frog!!! Should be super cute!
This is the easiest thing I have ever sewn! Who knew they were that easy to make! Thanks.
Thank you so much for the fantastic tutorial! I made these and shared them with a church group tonight :) I also posted mine with a link back to you here: http://aloadofcraft.blogspot.com/2011/02/hooded-towel.html
Thanks again!!
I am thrilled to have found your website!!!
I LOVE this tutorial and feel really stupid for buying the towels I do. I got hooked on hooded… but PONCHO STYLE towels for my son, and they are so hard to find, and usually made out of really cheap toweling material. I can’t wait to make my own now with better towels. I think I can just make it this same way, and sew another towel along the top edges (where shoulder would be), leaving an opening for the head, to make the poncho effect. Our bathrooms are cold, and the poncho is great – just throw it over their head when they stand up, and they stay warm (front and back and all over).
I came across these instructions and I needed to make hooded towels for a friends toddler that has outgrown her baby hooded towels. The instructions were very easy to follow, but I made my own changes, b/c I have a tendancy to over stitch things. For the hood after the hand towel was cut in half, I french seemed the hood for a soft finished edge on their head. Then attached to the bathtowel, I didn’t like the seam standing up, after straight stitching, I then zig zagged, then finally straight stitched it down to the bathtowel and it ended up looking like it was a flat felled seam. I made 4 of them in 2 hrs.
Hello Marie, thanks for the nice tutorial. I also wanted to share some tips from a hooded towel tutorial I wrote awhile back that incorporates jacquard ribbon and focuses on rounding out the hood. Maybe folks will find these additional tips useful. I also linked back to your tutorial in a reply to the original post here:
http://www.smf22.oli.us/forum/index.php/topic,6.0.html
thanks! Melissa
I make these with a few alterations and LOVE them. My kids love them. I posted about it on my blog (http://wanttogetcrafty.blogspot.com)
Thanks so much for the tutorial. It was super easy. A friend asked me to make one for her to give as a baby gift but I hadn’t seen a hooded towel made from a large bath towel and wasn’t sure where to begin. I was thinking about the small baby ones that would be a square and a triangle sewn over in the corner. I googled and found you. I used super thick towels and did break a needle where the towels had nice thick edges but I moved my seam and was able to finish easily.
I wrote you back aound August of last yr. about how tickled I was to find this helpful pattern you posted! Well, I didn’t get to finish the towels for my grandkids or my sisters grands either until the end of May!!! I made over 16 of them!!! The kids are so thrilled with them. Now they want to use them every night after bathtime, so the mommies are asking for another one so they don’t have to wash the one they have so often! lol
Go to my FB Album page (request me as a friend! ) to see how they all turned out! I would love to have you see them.
Thanks again!!
I have been looking online for a clear explaination of how to do these hooded towels–thank you… finally somebody who explains this in simple terms that doesn’t overwhelm me–i think I can actually do it now… can’t wait to make these towels :)
this is a fabulous how-to for making a hooded bath towel for your kids.
This is so cute! I never thought of doing this but it could work really well and it looks quite fun (for the crafter and the wearer*
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I just whipped up a hooded towel for my 7 month old son. I think it only took me 1/2 hour! And I’m a novice sewer! I added some spiderman fabric to the hood just to make it “cool” for my little guy. I love it!
I LOVE this!! This is exactly what I was looking for to make a hooded ducky towel for my son’s 1st birthday!
Hi! I just linked to your tutorial :)
http://bunchofbees.com/2011/08/28/birdie-hooded-towels-more-like-angry-birds/
Thanks so much for such a great tutorial! Your pictures and directions are so clear and helpful. I can’t wait to make some for Christmas gifts.
I got 2 of these for a shower gift with my first child. We used them till they wore out. Then I made some and started giving these away at baby showers. My kids loved them so much but got too big for them. So I bought bath sheets and made them for them one christmas they are teen agers now and still love them.
Thanks for the advice guys it helped heaps for my 3 year old to stay warm and even easier to wash in my washing machine..
Great for the beach too to keep the kids warm
I have used your instructions to make several hooded baby/toddler towels. I did make a bit of a change when making the towel for my newborn granddaughter. I pleated the towel when pinning it to the hood part. This turned out great. I also added washable printed ribbon to the inside where the hood is sewn to the towel. This gives it a personalized touch and covers the seam so not to scratch the little one’s neck.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi I really like this idea, but I was wondering, do you think it would work on a towelled bath robe? Thanks
It might be a little tricky depending on how thick your bathrobe fabric is, but it should be doable, if at least by hand. Good luck!
I love these towels. I have been making them for years for baby shower gifts and birthday gifts. I use a wash clothe as the hood instead of the hand towel. I also put names on the towesl and put decorative shapes on my towels also. I use cotton fabric backed with sewable iron fuesable webbing. It keeps the fabric from freying and holds the letters on until I finish sewing. To make the letters I use the letters that a teacher would use to create a bulletin board, I trace the letter facing backward on the paper backed fuseable webbing that has been ironed onto my fabric. I then cut out the letters, remove the paper backing and iron on to desired area of towel. I then will use a contrasting colored thread, sew around the letters in a close zigzag. It is great for beach towels too. There are many other things you can do to the towels too. If you need futher directions reply and I can explain better.
These are great! I made a couple for my nephews as Christmas gifts! One thing I did change though was the shape of the hood; I rounded it out a bit so it wasn’t so pointy. Other than that, I loved making these! I made my hoods into monsters! Thanks for the great tutorial!
Love this. We were out at the pools today and my kids were wearing their hooded towels, I said to my husband I would love to have a hooded towel for me. I have been searching somewhere to buy one but now I think I will sew one. Thanks
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