A Gift for Jake - Hooded Baby Towels

My beautiful niece, Trisha, has just given birth to a 

sweet little baby boy!

I wanted to make a special gift for our little miracle.

Then I remembered my friend, 
Cathy (creative goddess),

 makes the cutest hooded baby towels!

She taught me how and--with her permission--

I'm sharing with you!

First, (I love this step), go shopping!

You'll need a soft towel, a washcloth,  & ribbon to match.

You can make a bow with the ribbon for a girl--

or for a boy purchase a cute patch. 

If you are going to have the name embroidered on, do it first thing.  

Here the name is horizontally centered &
 4 inches from the bottom

(Hopefully you have a sweet friend like mine 
who will do it for you--thanks Lynette!)

Next, sew the ribbon along the bottom edge 
& attach the patch.

If you're doing a bow, I would attach it last.

Fold the washcloth horizontally--right sides together--

& sew a seam close to the edges of both t
he right & left sides.

I used masking tape to demonstrate where the next seam is 

so that you can see it. Sew two diagonal lines  like so:

Fold these corners to the back of the washcloth

(the side without the ribbon & embroidery) 

& sew. Careful not to catch the other side!

Turn hood right side out & it should look something like this:

Sorry this is hard to see! Mark the horizontal center of your towel.

Make a box pleat in the center & one half box pleat on each side of the full box pleat. 

The blue pins represent the pleats going one way &

the yellow pins represent the pleats going another way. 

Each half pleat is about 2 inches.

With right sides together, attach the hood to the

pleated portion of the towel.

It gets bulky when you get near the side seams of the hood,

 so I hand sewed that firmly into place.

Tip: Sew all your seams twice to insure durability

wash after wash!

Here's the finished product . . . 

Welcome to the world Baby Jake!

These wonderful photos are courtesy of Studio Tran Photography

These darling knitted crowns are available on  Etsy