Austin Hooded Bath Towel

Only basic sewing skills are required to make this snuggly bath wrap. You'll sew three straight seams--two to create the hood and one to attach it to the "cape."

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Materials

• Purple hand towel
• Purple bath towel
• Printable Austin Bath Towel Templates
• Black and white felt (for the eyes)
• Purple sewing thread
• Sewing machine
• Sewing needle (for hand-sewing)
• Fabric glue
• Fabric scissors
• Straight pins
• Measuring tape or ruler

Directions

1. Step 1

   Fold the hand-towel in half, short end to short end. Cut along the fold. Keep one half for the hood. Set the other half aside. <br /><br /> To prevent fraying, zigzag along the cut edge or use a liquid seam sealant such as Fray Check. Or if you like, just leave the cut edge as is. The seams will stop fraying after the first couple of washes and will not compromise the strength of the seam.

2. Step 2

   Now fold your piece of hand towel in half perpendicular to the cut edge. (See fig. 1.)

3. Step 3

   Stitch along the cut edge with a 5/8-inch seam allowance. (See fig. 2.)

4. Step 4

   Take the two free corners of the stitched towel and pull outward, forming a triangle with a point at the top (the sewed seam should be visible down the center). (See fig. 3.)

5. Step 5

   Measure 3 inches down from the point and mark with a pin. Snip the point off the hood about 1/2 inch above the pin. (See fig. 3.)

6. Step 6

   From the remaining half of the hand towel, use the printable templates to cut out the four ear pieces.

7. Step 7

   Stack two of the ear pieces, aligning their edges and with a needle and thread, sew long stitches around the curve of the ear about 1/4 inch away from the edge. Knot to secure the thread. Turn the ear right side out. Repeat with second ear.

8. Step 8

   Slip each of the ears into the opening you've just created. Hand-stitch horizontally from one side to the other, catching the ears with your needle as you stitch. (The stitch marks are shown on fig. 4.)

9. Step 9

   Use the eye templates to cut out white felt and black felt black for the eyes. Glue the eyes to the hood.

10. Step 10

    Lay out the bath towel horizontally. Center the bottom of the hood along the edge of the bath towel, then pin in place. Stitch the hood to the towel just above the towel's binding. (See fig. 5.)