Stay Put Hooded Towel Tutorial with Huggies® Little Swimmers®

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SwimAdventureContest #CB #CollectiveBias

Summer is coming and in southern California, that means pool days all day, every day!
Grace loves the pool, but pool time with toddlers can be a bit more complicated than
with older kids. That's why I appreciate anything that can make pool days easier - like
Huggies® Little Swimmers® Disposable Swimpants. They make quick changes
at the pool a breeze! I love to pair them with a rash guard and then poolside changes
are easy and uncomplicated.

That's why when I was shopping at Sam's Club and saw they had

Huggies® Little Swimmers® in the special Finding Dory large box that is

perfect for multiple pool days a week during the summer, I had to nab them.

Now, I am ready for pool days with Grace that are just a little bit simpler.

Another thing that makes pool days with a toddler just a bit easier are my
Stay Put Hooded Towels! After a fun pool day there are few thingsmore frustrating to a
toddler than being cold and wet because her towel keeps falling off as we walk home.
Thus, the Stay Put Hooded Towel was born!

It's easy to make and then pool days end with smiles from both

Grace and mommy.

What you'll need:
1 large towel
1 hand towel
thread
sewing machine

STEP ONE

To make the hood, take your hand towel and trim it to about 24" long.

I usually like to trim off the decorative edge, but this hand towel was exactly

24", so I kept the decorative edge this time.

STEP TWO
Fold the hand towel in half lengthwise, find the center and match it with

the center of your embellishment. If you aren't embellishing your hood,

then you can skip to STEP THREE. Pin your embellishment near the folded

edge of the hand towel, unfold the towel, and sew on the embellishment. 

STEP THREE
Now, refold the towel with right sides together, and the short ends together.

Then, sew down the open sides that are opposite from one another.

 

STEP FOUR
Turn it right sides out, so that you have a little towel pocket.

STEP FIVE
Invert corner "1" and push it back into corner "2".

STEP SIX
Then open it and lay it flat so that you have a little hood for your towel.

STEP SEVEN
To make the body of the towel, fold your large towel in half.
Then, find the center of the folded edge.
Use the neck hole of a shirt and make a pattern piece for the neck opening.
Cut out the neck opening.

  
STEP EIGHT

Open up your neck opening and pin down the front half of the ellipse to the wrong side.
Then sew a 1/4" seam around the pinned edge. I use a zig zag stitch.

STEP NINE
I added a cape to this hooded towel. If you're not adding a cape, 

you can skip to STEP TEN. For the cape, I cut 2 pieces of shimmer tulle

that were 12x24 and matched the center of the towel to center of the cape,

pinned right sides together, and then sewed with a zig zag stitch.

 
STEP TEN
Time to attach the hood! Find the center of the back part of the ellipse
and mark with a pin. Then match the center of the hood to the center of the ellipse
and pin the hood to the poncho right sides together. Sew the hood to the poncho
with a zig zag stitch.

STEP ELEVEN
This step is optional, but I like to do it on the towels for the little ones

because it keeps the breeze from blowing through. Measure 7 inches down

from the the shoulder on both sides and sew a 5 inch seam close to the

edge. It creates little arm holes and keeps the breeze out, keeping your toddler

toasty and warm for the trip home.

And there you have it - The Stay Put Hooded Toddler Towel!
You'll thank me when there is no whining about towels falling off or
having black pool towels because they've been drug across the parking lot
because she's just given up trying to keep the towel on.

Be sure to grab your Huggies® Little Swimmers® Disposable Swimpants in
the special Finding Dory packaging from Sam's Club for easy poolside changes
this summer. Then, snap a picture of your fun summer moments and share on your
social media channels with the hashtag #SwimAdventureContest. Or, if Twitter and
Instagram aren't your thing you can upload your photo directly to SamsClub.com for
the chance to win one of five $1000 Sam's Club gift cards! Contest ends 6/1/16.

What are your tips for making trips to the pool with 
a toddler a bit easier?
Comment below! I'd love all the help I can get!