With the 4th of July on the horizon and our heading to the beach like many folks do this time of year here, I had the epiphany that I wanted to make The Bub his very own hooded beach towel to bring along.
You may recall that I had used the black version of my Fireworks fabric last winter to make a hat for Mister Baby Pants, and I got super excited when I realized that now would be the perfect festive occasion to bust out the white version!
I searched around online to find a hooded towel idea I liked. I stumbled across Prudent Baby’s tutorial here and thought I’d use the same basic concept but add a tiny bit of SK flare to it. ‘Cuz that’s how I roll.
So here’s how it all went down…
I went to Ikea and found some solid bath towels in the perfect shade of yellow to match my fabric. Their lime green and turquoise are also great matching options (I bought the green to make another hooded towel for Mister Baby Pants later).
I was really happy with this find because although these towels aren’t the best quality in the way of bath towels, they are more than enough when it comes to beach towels, plus the price was great and the color pop was so much more fun than plain white. I bought the 39" x 59" bath towel and opted to get a separate hand towel to make the hood portion out of.
And there was one other bonus that comes with the Ikea towel. Because the designers created a loop halfway along one of the long sides of this bath towel for easy hanging, I decided I’d keep that and position this part of the towel at the back of the neck, so it could all still be hung up the same way. Bonus!
One thing I forgot to factor in, based on Prudent Baby’s tutorial, was that I chose a bigger sized towel, so I ended up needing a bit more Fireworks yardage and a third pack of cobalt blue piping to finish everything off completely.
The first thing I did was cut the bath towel trim off (except for that one long side that has the loop in it), so there’d be less bulk in the finished piece. I actually didn’t use Prudent Baby’s hood template, but opted instead to simply place the hand towel on The Bub’s head (after chasing him around the house, trying to convince him I was making something fun that he’d like, he was juuuust cooperative long enough for me to get two pins in). I then based the overall arc shape on one of his existing hoodies. As you can see, I operate with exacting science. Hello, crap shoot.
And speaking of making things up as you go, I also wanted to trick out the hood a bit by adding some fun scales, kinda triangular like star points, kinda monster-like, so a sure bet in my book.
And as you’re starting to see, I don’t always worry about precision. I had some leftover Fireworks fabric that I had trimmed off one length of the larger towel piece, so I took that and quickly stitched up five double-sided triangles, top-stitched them and then lined them all up along the hood seam. I’m thrilled with how it came out!
I sewed up the hood, finishing it with the cobalt blue piping. I have to tell you, with all my fabric experiments over the years, this is the first time I’ve ever sewn piping. I know. Gasp.
I’m now addicted and want to sew piping on everything I see. I think I felt the same way after I learned how to make button holes on my machine. Clearly a side effect of conquering a new skill. I have the powerrrr!!!
Moving on the the main bath towel portion of the project, the only change I opted to make was to round the corners off more extremely before sewing everything up. I like the softer look it gives. I also contemplated pockets for a moment, but as I want the whole thing to also function as a personal beach blanket for The Bub, I didn’t want to bog it down with too many bulky bits and bobs.
And here’s the hooded beach towel, all complete!
Annnd it will hang up nicely to dry after use!
Annnnnd The Bub loves it = SCORE!!!
Happy 4th of July and remember the sunscreen!