Every Kid Needs a Hoodie
Hoodie towels are a tradition in my family that goes back to my childhood. I still remember getting out of the bath and wrapping up in my warm hoodie.
Every new baby in our family gets one. I received a few store bought baby towels as gifts and they were so thin that I never used them. I just loved wrapping my babies in the big soft hoodie.
We make them out of good quality towels that last for years… And when their hoodie finally wears out, the kids always want another bigger one.
They are so easy to make. You’ll want to make them for all your kids or grandkids. They make a great gift for a new baby. A summer hoodie made of a beach towel is perfect for the pool or the beach.
When my kids climb out of the bath, they don’t want anything but their hoodie. It’s just so cozy and warm. It’s definitely one of our favorite things.
Here’s what you need to make a one:
- 1 bath towel (for bigger kids use a bath sheet)
- 1 hand towel (we usually use white)
- fabric of choice for embellishing (or you can use a ribbon)
1. Cut the hand towel in half across the width. You should have two almost square pieces. You will only be using one piece for the project. Save the second piece to make another hoodie.
(the fabric is folded in half for easier cutting)
2. Cut a strip of fabric 3 inches wide and the width of your hand towel.
3. Press a hem on each side of the strip of fabric. Your hemmed strip should measure about 1 1/2″ wide.
4. Fold the finished edge of hand towel about 2 1/2″ and then fold again. This creates the brim.
5. Lay your fabric strip centered the on the middle of the brim. Pin into place. Stitch in place close to each edge.
6. 1 1/2″ from the brim, make a tuck on each side and pin (as shown on the picture.)
7. With right sides together sew the back of the hood.
8. Finding the middle of the towel and the back of the hood, pin right sides together.
9. Stitch together. Back stitch several times on each end to secure.
Marley Jane shows off a new Hoodie
I know your hoodie will be lovingly used and abused. Make sure to buy a quality towel, so that it will last. We have found great deals on really wonderful towels at T.J. Maxx. Costco also has good towels at a good price. I’ve matched my kids hoodies to the color of my bathroom and they are darling hanging on hooks. Each of my kids has a different color, so they know which hoodie is their’s. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
that is gorgeous! What a great idea!
Love the hoodie! Just made my two darling girls each their own hoodie for our upcoming beach vacation out of super cute beach towels. Can’t wait to make them “bath” hoodies! Thanks for the tutorial!
[…] a reader named Janean. She included a photograph of the wonderful hoodie towels she made from my tutorial… only hers were even more wonderful with the names of her granddaughters embroidered on […]
hi friend, good tutorial. I’ll try to do the towel. I visit your blog every day and I love it.
kisses from Brazil.
Calli: Have you made the baby size? I’d like to do one smaller…thanks.
Diane, every newborn baby in our family… (and many of our friends) gets a hoodie towel. They are always made out of a standard size bath towel. They are big for a newborn, but since we use a nice quality towel, they are soft and warm. And even though they are big, they are work wonderfully to wrap a newborn up in after a bath… and yet they grow with them for a long time. I don’t know how to make them smaller other than to find a really small towel.
thanks for your response! I’m off to find the softest towel ever! ( I asked a girl about this at church yesterday and her response was the same as yours) thanks for the directions!
I just made a towel for my premature little grandson and thought I would share. I made it from a hand towel and washcloth and it is adorable! The hand towel is 16″ x 30″. When you add the washcloth, the finished hoodie towel is 22 ” tall. Since my Little Lex is only 17″ tall, it fits nicely and should last for several months.
The fun thing about it is that I had made a regular sized towel for his older brother a few months ago. I bought the same color towels – blue hood and white towel – and added the same trim – footballs!!
Love it! I have the supplies to do three and can’t wait! What is the reason for the pin tuck in step 6?
Every kid may not need a hoodie, but every kid wants one. I followed your wonderful directions and made two hoodies for my youngest sons, ages 3 and 1. When their four older brothers saw them, they ALL wanted one, even the 12 year old!
Cutest hoodie I’ve ever seen! I made 6 of them for my 3-year & under nieces/nephews for Christmas after seeing how adorable they were on my 2-year-old. I’m getting ready to make 4 more for my 5-7-year-old relatives. This will also likely become my new baby shower gift – I love it! BTW – I’m a very novice sewer & had few problems.
Hi, wondering if there were any special tricks I needed to know about as my machine just would not sew threw so many thicknesses in the hood band. I even had my friend try it on her fancy machine and it did not work. We did some modifying and came out with two adorable towels. Maybe my towels were just too thick to begin with.
[…] to make a hoodie towel for the child in your life, they are fast and easy. I wrote a tutorial here. The nice thing is they last a very long time. (My kids STILL love and use a hoodie towel.) […]
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Our hoodie towels have been loved to shreds and I have been looking for easy directions on how to make new ones for everybody! This will be perfect for this Christmas and I can start on them NOW so that I can be done before #6 arrives in October! Again – thank you!
Made two of these this weekend from your tutorial. My kids were super excited, far more so than I expected. My two year old has been wearing his around the house all day! Definitely a hit. :) Thanks for the great tutorial!