Teach Me Tuesday: How To Make a Teddy Bear Hooded Towel

Welcome to Teach Me Tuesday! I spend a lot of time each week reading all of the great DIY tips out there in Blogland. Because there are so many fabulous projects that I can’t wait to try, I figured that it would be fun to feature some of my very favorites here each Tuesday.

If you would like to be featured in an upcoming edition of Teach Me Tuesday, please email me at LivingWithLindsay@gmail.com and we’ll chat!

This week’s edition of Teach Me Tuesday comes from Michelle at A Little Tipsy. Michelle writes a fun little blog that features a great hodgepodge of different topics – tutorials, tips, bargains, and more. She named her blog A Little Tipsy because she’s a little clumsy. Michelle, I think we may be sisters!

Michelle has written a nice series on handmade gifts to give at baby showers. You can see all of her tutorials here, but I could only pick favorite to share with you today. Michelle’s tutorial on making a teddy bear hooded towel would have definitely come in handy when Zack was too tall for the baby towels but still too short for the toddler towels. All you need for Michelle’s tutorial is a matching hand towel and bath towel, thread, pins, and yes, a sewing machine. Sorry folks, but even I couldn’t figure out how to do a glue gun version of this one.

Michelle instructs:

This little teddy bear hooded towel turned out so precious and so easy! I could not keep it from my little guy he loved it so much. I started out just making hooded towels for a baby shower, but once I saw my little one wrap up in the fluffy brown fabric I just had to add some little teddy ears! You could make it a dog or cat too, if that is your preference.

Supplies Needed:

• Hand Towel
• Bath Towel
• Thread
• Sewing Machine
• Pins

Let me start off by letting you know that this is the first thing I had sewn since 7th grade Home Economics (15 years ago) so that tells you two things: it is super easy and I will not be using technical sewing terms in my descriptions.

1. Cut the hand towel in half.

2. Trim about 2 inches from the unfinished edge of each half so the hood won’t be huge. Hold on to this extra fabric. You will need it later for the ears.

3. Fold over the finished edge of the hand towel to the edge of the ribbing. Pin it and stitch it in to place.

4. Sew a straight stitch down the edge of the unfinished edge to seal the hood.

5. Fold the bath towel in half. Measure out about 4 inches from the center (on the top of the towel) on each side and mark with a pin. Fold each pin back to the center mark and pin the layers together. Stitch across all layers to secure the pleat (no idea if that is the right terminology).

6. Line up the center of bath towel and center of the hood making sure you are putting the right sides together so you don’t end up with one inside out. Pin the hood to the towel. Stitch across the entire hood. Don’t forget to back stitch when starting and stopping to strengthen the seam.

7. I did not like the cone head look, so I turned the hood inside out and stitched a diagonal line along the corner. Then, I cut off the corner and turned the hood right side out. This gave it a more rounded look. (When I did it, this step was actually after the ears, but it does not matter.)

8. Cut out ear shapes from the leftover fabric. Stitch around the edge in about 1/4 inch to prevent fraying. This also makes them look more like ears.

9. Pin them on to the hood about an inch out from the center and stitch them on laying back.

10. Then, fold the ears forward and stitch them again. This reinforces them and helps them to stand up a bit more.

That’s it! You have made the cutest towel ever for a sweet little bundle of joy! How cute would it be to sew a little bow between the ears for a girl?

Isn’t that adorable? Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Michelle! I love that it this sewing project only takes basic sewing skills. If you can sew a straight seam, you can make this hooded towel.

I agree that a little bow for a girl’s towel would be very sweet. I also like her idea of making different ears for other animals; I think cats and dogs would be super easy following Michelle’s directions.

Do you think you could make this project? I know a lot of you are scared of your sewing machines, but this one is so simple that you can definitely do it!

Tagged as: crafting, crafts, DIY, Do it Yourselfer, Inspiration, mother, projects, sewing, Stay at Home Mom, Teach me Tuesday, Toddler