Once upon a time there was a cute little teddy…
And a really, really cute baby. Unfortunately for you, the baby is not available. I’ll be keeping that little darling. Wouldn’t you? But lucky for you, I can teach you to make this teddy bear hooded bath towel.
Hooded towels are one of my all time favorite baby gifts to make (as you know if you have been on my blog much). I like to try my hand at new ones each month. One of my first ever was a Frog. For Fall (and for twin babies) I made Owls. One of my all time favorites is the Dragon. And my boys’ favorite? Angry birds.
This hooded towel is actually one of a set of three. A friend had triplets last month and I wanted to come up with something cute for her little threesome. A few people suggested three blind mice but that just didn’t sound quite right-I mean who wants a towel that looks like a rat? I thought of the 3 bears might be a little bit cuter.
The 2 girl bears have bows in their ears, the boy doesn’t.
Pretty cute either way, right? OK, let’s teach you to make one of your own:
What You Need:
1 brown bath towel
1 coordinating hand towel
Small amounts of white, black, dark brown fabric
Small amount of heat and bond
Teddy Bear Hooded Bath Towel Tutorial:
Start out by cutting your hand towel in half.
Fold the finished edge of the hand towel under about 3-4 inches, pin it in place and stitch it.
Now, flip it over so that you are working on the underside.
Cut out your eyes-a big white circle and a little black eyeball. Cut out heat and bond in the same size and shape. Adhere the eyes to your heat and bond and then place them where you want them on the towel and iron them in place.
Now, using a tight and small zig zag stitch (applique), stitch around each part of your eye-the eyeball and the white.
Cut out your snout from the extra half of the hand towel. You’ll need to cut 2 of those snout pieces and then sew them together all the way around, except don’t sew the straight part. Turn it right side out.
Now cut out a little nose. I used dark brown towel because I had it on hand. You can use that or any dark brown fabric. Zig zag around it just like you did with the eyes. You will be sewing through both layers of the snout.
Now just do a basic straight stitch to form the little smile on your teddy. I just eyeballed it starting at the nose and going down and curving out. I had to go over it 3-4 times to make it show up. I used dark brown thread to do it.
Now that your snout is done you will need to zig zag it in place on your face, like this:
How about some ears? Teddy’s need cute ears right?
Cut out the ears (4) from the light brown hand towel and the inner ears (2) from dark brown fabric. Sew your ears the same way you did your snout-sew all the way around except the straight edge, turn right side out. Then zig zag your inner ears in place just like you did with the nose.
Now, figure out just where you want these little ears on your towel ( just above and slight to the side of the eyes) and cut a small slit and slide your unfinished edge of the ear into the slit. You want the slit to be a little smaller than the ears so that they pucker just a little. Turn the head inside out so that you are working on the underside and zig zag the slit closed, catching the bottom of the ear in it. It should look like this:
Snip off any excess ear on the underside.
Cute huh?
Now, fold your towel in half with the face on the inside and zig zag up the raw edge to form the hood:
Keep your hood inside out and turn it so that it is laying like this:
Sew a straight line across the top of that tip (this is going to round out the head of your teddy bear instead of making it pointy) and snip off the tip:
Now, turn it right side out and you should have a teddy bear face staring back at you.
To sew it onto your towel, first find the center of the towel. Then make a little pleat like this:
Now, center your head along that pleat and zig zag it in place, sewing the full length of the bottom of your head:
And that’s it! Isn’t it adorable? Aren’t you glad you made it? Do you have other ideas for hooded towel tutorials that you would like to see me do?
I would love to hear from you! Visit me at Crazy Little Projects or on Facebook or Twitter. To see new hooded towels (and other projects) you can also follow me on Pinterest or by RSS/email.
Lindsey says
Thanks for the tutorial! I want to give one of these a try :) I haven’t done a zig zag stitch yet, honestly I’m little intimidated!
Stephanie says
Oh my gosh Amber those are so cute! I bet Hilary was thrilled!!
melle e says
these are all so stinkin’ cute. may make them for my niece and nephew…
Barbara says
Love these hooded towels! So cute! I found a zebra printed towel at walmart and thought a zebra hooded towel would be cute. I was thinking I could adapt the dragon mouth, making it a bit narrower, add a pink nose like the bear has and pink ears? And a mane in black or pink to match the nose. Just not sure about the eyes – like the dragon’s eyes, perhaps? Thanks for sharing your creative ideas!
Amber says
Oh ya! That sounds fantastic! Send me some pics if you do it!
Jackie says
I LOVE making these towels. Your photos & directions are excellent & I thank you.
I started with the frog & then created a duck & today I got the towels for the teddy. My only Grandchild will never be short of towels.
I started using white & black iron on patches for the eyes & am finding that a bit easier to zig zag around.
Thank you for sharing your great ideas.
Amber says
SO happy to hear!
Sara - My Merry Messy Life says
Wow, you are a pro at making these! You could start a store. Great job, Amber, they are so cute! Thanks for sharing at Hookin On Hump Day!
[email protected] Pinch of Joy says
SO adorable! These look like they would be fun to sew as well as to gift! Thanks so much for linking on busy Monday!
Tara says
Love the towels! Adorable! Would love to see a penguin & polar bear. You have a great eye for these.
Amber says
Loving those ideas. Maybe a penguin will be January’s towel.
julie says
I am very confused by the tutorial. I have all the “ingredients” in front of me, but I get lost right away under the first photo. Just place the eyes wherever you want? Do they go on the underside of the hand towel, the outside, on the folded part or on the longer part? I am just not seeing how this all comes together. :(
Amber says
Did you cut your hand towel in half? Then fold the finished edge under about 4 inches and stitch it in place? Those are the first two steps. Then flip the towel over to the underside and put the eyes where you want them. Just be sure to leave room for the nose. Does that help?
julie says
thank you for your response! I just read the rudolph one and the extra pictures help a ton. I’m gonna sew him together tonight. Crossing my fingers that my ancient sewing machine does not act up!
Angela says
So darn cute! I think I would choose the teddy bear! or the owl.. yikes so cute hard to choose!
Tami says
I’m curious what the pleat in the towel is for. Can you explain that part? Also, you say “small” pleat…about how big would you say each fold is, an inch?
Amber says
The pleat just kind of makes it wrap a little easier and hang nice. It’s about 1-2 inches big.
Tami says
Awesome, thanks! For the ears and pieces that are attached to the hood…do you stuff those with something to get them to be puffy?
Amber says
I don’t but your sure could!
Megan says
Love this one! I’m wondering if you could modify it and use a yellowish-tan towel to make a Winnie the Pooh? I am just finishing up an Angry Birds towel for my son and love all of your ideas for hooded towels. I think everyone will soon know what to expect from me for a gift at a baby shower!
Amber says
Such a great idea! I will keep that in mind!
Pam says
I really like your towels! Have you thought about doing a whale towel? Whales are very popular in baby nurseries right now and these towels would make great shower gifts!:
Amber says
I’ll add that one to my list. :)
Sifra says
I just want to start by saying that I LOVE these animal hooded towels, they’re adorable!!
I would love to make all of them but I’ll start with the Teddy Bear, hehe :)
I have a question: what kind of fabric are the eyes made from? Are they fleece or some sort of thick cotton, or is it something else?
Amber says
I just use regular cotton but you could use fleece.
Sifra says
Ok, thank you!
Pippa says
I just made this for my niece! It turned out beautifully, and I’ll definitely be making some other animals in the future. Fabulous tutorial- thank you so much!
Amber says
I love to hear that. Thanks for letting me know!
Leigh Ann says
I love these! What a great gift! I want to make one of each! It’s so gracious of you to provide this tutorial for free! Thank you!
Patricia says
Hello. Happy new year! I am wondering if you make these types of towels on a reg basis and if yes would you consider wholesaling them?
Amber says
Nope…too much work. Sorry! :)
Ruth says
I just found this and it is sooooooooo adorable. My youngest daughter has 4 boys, too; but on December 31 she finally gave birth to a girl. Her oldest is just turning 11….I don’t know who’s too old for one of these towels and who isn’t. My other daughter has 7 and I think all but maybe the last one are too old. But I would love to make some of these.
Amber says
Awww! She finally got a girl! I would say these towels work well up to age 8 or zo
Diane Flynn says
I love the towels, making my first monster! Challenge is the thickness of the terry cloth folded. Do you have any suggestions? My machine continues to jam, frustrating! I am using a Janome model 8500.
My monster and two Elmo’s are waiting for me.
Thank you
Diane
Renee Dumont says
I have made the duck 4 times and the frog twice. Love your tutorials. I am going to try the bear next. Good work.
kathleen says
How would you adapt this for a teenager? I know they have bigger heads than babies!!!
Amber says
Just don’t cut the hand towel in half and try to find a very big bath towel to use.
Brittny says
I love these. I have made 3 of them(a dragon, teddy bear, and my own version of an elephant), but I have trouble with the eyes and ears fraying out. Do have any tips prevent this?
Amber says
Just make sure to get that zig zag around the eyes really tight so that the fabric doesn’t have the chance to fray.
Diaca says
Ugh, I just don’t get it. I’m a total beginner to sewing, I never did anything! I may be too stupid to do this. I tried making the teddy bear and the frog but the hood is just a huge mess… I don’t get it sorry. But lovely pictures, yay!
Lori says
Just love your towel Hoosiers, all my grandchildren go nuts over them. Now my question: since they are your designs I have been getting a lot of requests to do Paw patrol bath towel goodies, for Zuma, Marshall and etc, so could you help me and designs a towel Hoodies for one of these guys before this Christmas 2016 Please. I am not good at making the patterns. Thank you, Lori from wi
Aynslee Sararas says
These are soo cute. Have you thought about a llama or an alpaca and a sloth towel yet as they seem to be pretty popular animals with the kids right now.
Amber says
Those would be so cute!