towel hoodie

This is my first post to 550. A (we are going to need to change her name because that is what I call our little sister) has enlisted me to contribute and I finally received my new camera from Amazon! I am the sister that lives on the moon (or in South Dakota) who she mentioned in her earlier post. I don't know that my postings will be as insightful as a's, but hopefully posting will make me finish a bunch of projects that have been lingering, including two quilts that are overdue wedding gifts.

Instead of working on those quilts, I have been sewing a lot of baby stuff. This is a towel hoodie inspired by Lotta Jabsdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby. The reason that I say that it is "inspired" by her book, rather than the actual project from her book, is that the instructions in the book are quite deficient. In some places the instructions grossly understates the amount of fabric required and in others they are extremely wasteful. For example, in this pattern she calls for a 1 bath sheet and 1 matching hand towel (just to make the towel hoodie), yet there was more than enough of the towel left over that you didn't need to buy a separate hand towel to make the hood piece. I made the whole thing and the two washcloths from one bath towel (the diagonal stripe on one washcloth is because I had to piece it together). The instructions call for 1/3 of a yard of fabric to make the binding tape (it doesn't have to be on a bias because there are no curves), but you really need 1/2 a yard to finish the project (not including the washcloths).


Bottom line: This is a great and easy project to make for any upcoming baby shower. It takes around 2 hours depending on how you sew (I spent a long time trying to get the mitered corners right, but then I gave up). But you don't need the book or a pattern to complete this project. Just cut the biggest square you can out of a bath sheet, cut a triangle that is about 16in x 11in x 11in out of the remaining fabric and cut stripes that are 3.75 in for the binding.