Where has the time gone!? Seriously, anyone else feel this way? It seems to be that this time of the year gets busy, busy, busy for us. Nearly non-stop busy. Preschool is out, swimming lessons are in, and the park is calling our name. Besides that we have a wedding coming up, (My little sister is getting married and I have been trying to help out with preparations as much as I can. Some of which I'll share with you another day when I have a few more extra minutes.) family from both sides coming and going over the course of the next month and an entire backyard to tear up and redo.
We've been playing where we can, but nothing super structured. Come fall we'll start up again with fun activities. :)
In the meantime, while I'm trying to slow down just enough to catch my breath, let me share with you the tutorial I shared over at Someday Crafts back in March.
The crafting series for the month was Crafting for Baby. My brother-in-law and his wife were due with a baby boy, so I chose to make a gift for them. I have been wanting to make new hooded towels for my girls (and still haven't done it!), so I thought I might try it out and make one for baby boy.
I know I haven't posted much sewing on here recently, but I really do love it. It is my happy place- sometimes it's just hard to get myself there. Besides a love for sewing, I also love monsters. I think they are adorable and just plain fun! Once I spotted this monster fabric at the store, it was pretty much a done deal. The hooded towel became a monster hooded towel. You can use this same pattern to make a non-monster hooded towel, just skip over the applique parts.
Ready to get sewing!? (Just FYI: This tutorial is for an infant hooded towel (ages 0-18 months)
You will need:
- 1 yard terry cloth
- 1 yard cotton fabric
- scraps of white fabric
- scraps of black fabric
- small pieces of fusible web (like Wonder Under)
- pattern (found here)
All seam allowances are 3/8" (the edge of the presser foot for me).
Step 2: Cut the terry cloth down to 30" x 30". You will have some fabric left over, save it, you'll need it for the hood pieces. Also cut the cotton fabric to 30" x 30". Take the excess terry cloth fabric, fold it over lengthwise and pin and cut out the hood pattern piece (like in the image below).
Using the scraps of white fabric, and the white of eye pattern piece cut out the eyes. Use the white fabric to cut out the teeth as well. Do the same with the scraps of black fabric and the pupil pattern piece.
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| All cut and ready to sew! (This image is missing the teeth, they were an after thought.) |
Step 3: Following the product instructions, iron the fusible web to the back of the eyes, pupils, and teeth. Peel off the paper backing.
Step 4: Lay out the eyes and teeth on one of the hood pieces. Make sure the eyes aren't too high or close to the edge, remember the seam allowance (3/8"). I placed the eyes approx. 1 1/2" from the top of the piece, and approx. 2" from the side. See the image below:
Iron in place.
Step 5: Applique around the eye and teeth pieces. I used a zig-zag stitch. I set the sitch width to 2.5 and the length to 1.5. The scrap fabric I used was knit, which doesn't fray, so a small zig-zag works fine. If you use a fabric that fays easily, like cotton, you may want to tighten up the stitch width.
If you haven't ever done applique don't be scared off by it! I hadn't either until this towel. It really is pretty easy, just go slow. Take your time and it'll turn out great! Around the curves, if you need to, don't hesitate to leave the needle down, lift the presser foot and pivot the fabric slightly. Tight curves can be tricky, doing this helps a lot!
Step 6: Now take both hood pieces. With the right sides together, stitch along the bottom of the hood. Turn right side out and press.
Step 7: Use the corner rounding piece to round the edges of the 30" x 30" pieces of fabric (both terry cloth and cotton). Either pin the piece in place and cut around it, or use a pen with disappearing ink to trace around the pattern piece.
Step 8: With the right sides together, pin all pieces in place. Sandwich the hood between the terry cloth and cotton fabric.
Step 9: Starting in the middle of one edge, sew the towel together. Be sure to leave a 6 inch gap so you can turn it right side out.
It is helpful to mark the gap with double pins, so you don't accidentally sew it closed.
Step 10: Turn the towel right side out and press. Topstitch around the towel, closing the 6 inch gap.
You're done! I know it looks like a lot of work, but it really is pretty simple. The most time consuming part is cutting out the fabric and assembling the monster hood.
Do you share my love of monsters? Check out my zipper mouthed plush monsters (or Munsters) too!
