Little Bear Hooded Towel

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My cousin's wife asked me to figure out a tutorial for making a hooded towel.  I have always wanted to try to make one, so I have researched a bit, and I will share the links of the tutorials I visited to put this one together.

So Tristan, this one's for you!!

I started out trying to find the cheapest towel and hand towel I could find.  I found this Better Homes & Garden towel set from Wal-Mart on sale for $8.  Plus I have a washcloth leftover now to go with the hooded towel!  But for this project, you will only need the large towel and the hand towel.  

I decided to make a pleat in the back of the towel so that it would be a little easier to wrap around my little guy.  So I took my large towel and found the center by folding it in half.  I marked the center and then measured 4 inches from the center on both sides.  (You could make the pleat larger or smaller depending on what you want, but I found 4 inches to be perfect!)

Next, I folded the left and right pins into the center, creating a pleat.  Pin it up, babe!

Next, I sewed over the pleat and prayed I wouldn't break a needle off my Mom's sewing machine like I did last week!!  Now it looks like this.  Pat yourself on the back because the body of the towel is done!

Now for the hood!  I took the hand towel and folded it in half the tall way.  

I cut out 2 large squares.  I measured mine 10 inches by 10 inches.  I think it's plenty large... but you could do it smaller for a baby if you'd like.

In the top left corner, I just cut a curve so the hood would be round.  No exact science here.  Just made a mess with my fraying!

I pinned right sides together and sewed along the curved edge all the way around.  To reinforce this, I zigzagged right next to my first stitch.  Then, I trimmed the excess fabric.  And there you have it, the hood is all done!  Moving right along...

I wanted to make some ears for this towel, so I cut 2 rectangles out of my scraps.  

I sewed each rectangle together lengthwise (the long way).  Are you ready for the hardest part??  You have to turn each tube inside out now.  I used my scissors to help punch it through the skinny tube.

I just played with my tubes until I got them to look like ears.  Then I sewed them together by sewing along the bottom of each ear so the 2 ends of the tube stayed together.

I know this is a bad-lighting picture, but I didn't want an opening in the backs of my ears, so I also sewed up the middle.  No donut ears for me!

Pin those ears on the top of the hood, centering from the middle seam. 

Sew, baby, sew!  It should look something like this!  If you wanted to put eyes (cute layered buttons or something?) or a whole face, you should probably sew the ears farther back than I did here to fit more of a face.

Now we just have to put the pieces together!  Line up the center seams and pin the hood to the towel (the pleat should be on the top.)  Sew, baby, sew!! 

We tried out this little bear towel the very next day, and my guy loved it!!  It was thicker, warmer, and longer than any of his other towels!!  I think this would be so cute made into different animals.  I keep wanting to make a skunk towel somehow for my stinky cutie pie!!!  

This was one of the easiest sewing projects I've done in a long time.  It took me 45 minutes--tops!! 
If I was about as clear as mud (good chances), here are a couple of other wonderful tutorials that helped me as I was figuring this out:
Hooded Kids Towel from The Crafty Cupboard **This one has a cute polk-a-dot hood!**
Bear Hooded Towel from Make It and Love It **Fabulous tutorial that helped me with measurements!**
Teddy Bear Hooded Towel from A Little Tipsy **Another great tutorial.**

Linking up to 

Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow

Lucky Linky at Lucky Star Lane

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge