As Good As It Gets: Poncho-style Towel Cover-up

I love seeing simple projects on other people’s blogs, so I thought I would give directions to a project I just did.

My Mother-in-law gave the kids cute towels from Lands End. I love them! They are great because they don’t fall off or drag on the ground and the kids can walk to the car from the sprinkler park or the pool. Lucy’s is already starting to get small on her and they are always fighting over Caleb’s, so I decided to make some.

I used the Lands End towel as my example. I am in no way a seamstress so there is probably a better way to do it, but this is what worked for me. The Lands End ones have cute characters and such; mine are just plain. Maybe we will look for some patches to sew on.

1. Choose a bath or beach towel and coordinating hand towel. Fold it in half and make sure it is the desired length. If it is too short on the child, it will not keep them warm. If it is too long they will trip. I used 30 in. by 54 in., which was perfect for my 3 and 5 year old.

2. Lay the hand towel flat and cut 6 ½ inches from each of the finished side. The finished sides will be the front of the hood. Each time I cut a piece I zigzag stitched (basted?) the edge so it would not fray. (for a toddler size I would cut 6 inches, per the small Lands End one.)

3. Overlap the pieces and sew together. (I overlapped rather than sewing the right sides together so that I could keep the finished trim and not have too bulky of a seam.) I sewed the top side down, turned it over and sewed the bottom flat. (This is the front of the hood.)

4. Cut the remaining part of the hand towel down to 11 inches wide. Zigzag each of the cut sides. (for a toddler size I would cut 10 - 10 1/2 inches, per the small Lands End one.)

5. Fold in half lengthwise. Starting from fold, cut curved piece off the top. (This will be the back of the hood.)

6. Pin right sides together and sew back of hood.

7. Pin the front and back of the hood together (right sides together). The front will be slightly longer than the back because of the piece you trimmed off the top. Sew together.

8. Trim hood to desired length. I Used 12 in. from the top seam. Zigzag around the bottom.

9. Cut a slit in the middle of the bath towel. Measure the width of your finished hood to determine length. I cut mine 11 in. Better to cut short and have to go further than to cut too far. Zigzag around the collar. (For a toddler size use the width of your hood as a guide.)

10. Find the center of the back of both the collar and the hood. Pin. Continue pinning around. It is okay to have the front pieces of the hood overlap. (The Lands End ones overlap, but their hoods are a little more curved).

11. I had a small space between the two finished pieces of the hood. I just barely angled down the finished edges before pinning and folded over the remaining inch or so of collar so that it would look finished.