How To: Hooded Baby Bath Towel

This post is a little out of the normal for me, I suppose. A craft tutorial? Well, The Budgeteer is about "doing more with less", so with the encouragement of my friend Lisa (for whom I created this particular towel, although I have made one for each of my girls too) I will post the directions here. Who knows, maybe one of you would like to do this too!

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Hooded Baby Bath Towel

1. Start with one full size bath towel (not pictured) and one hand towel (which will become the hood). I am partial to ones they sell at Homegoods in the baby section, because they come with super cute embroidery. But you can purchase any (or use any existing) design/label/color towels and always embellish as you like.

2. From the short edge of the hand towel, measure up 9 inches and cut straight across. (When I use the embroidered towels, this embroidery is what will show on the hood of the towel.)

This is what you will now have:

3. With right sides together, fold the towel in half and pin unfinished edges together.

4. Sew, finishing the edges so they do not fray. Turn right side out and flatten out so as to create a triangle shape. This is now your hood.

5. Find the middle of the bath towel and mark with a pin. With right sides together, pin the hood to the towel, lining up the center of the towel with the seam of the hood (also its center).

6. Mark the bath towel 6 inches from hood's seam on both sides. Pin the ends of the hood at the 6 inch marks. The hood will not lay flat, you will have extra material.

7. Make a pleat with the hood fabric 3 inches from the seam. Pin so the hood now lays flat and you have a pleat. Repeat on both sides, making sure your pleats face the same way.

8. Sew hood to the towel, reinforcing the ends and the pleats.

9. All done! Use during bath time on your cutie-patootie.