Hooded Towel w/Bias Binding by Bessie Pearl
Do you have a little one in the family? Maybe there’s a baby shower coming up, and you’d love to gift something handmade—but you’re short on time? Enter the hooded towel. But this isn’t just any hooded towel—we’re giving it the royal treatment.
Sure, you could follow a standard pattern and be done, but as my favorite gardener and her mom from Garden Answer say, we’re going to “romance the ordinary.”
For this project, I followed the construction video tutorial by Tara Reed, which you can find [here]. I’ll walk you through how I added bias binding to elevate the finished look with a polished, boutique feel.
Project Time:
1 to 1.5 hours
Supplies:
1 full-size body towel
1 hand towel
Sewing machine
Cotton sewing thread
Rotary cutter & mat
Straight-edge quilt ruler (or similar)
Scissors
Pins or quilt clips
Instructions
Step 1:
Trim off the factory-finished edges from both the body and hand towels (about ½–¾ inch) using a straight edge or quilt ruler. You just want to remove enough to expose the terry cloth, which helps reduce bulk and improves the final finish.
Step 2:
Cut a 10" section from the hand towel (see the video at 2:18). This piece will become the hood. Bonus: This cut makes enough for two hoods, so grab a second body towel if you want to double your project.
Step 3:
Apply your 2.5" Bessie Pearl Bias Binding to all edges of both the body towel and the 10" hand towel piece using your preferred method. I used the quilt-style technique: machine-stitching the binding to one side, then flipping and sewing it to the other.
Tip:
If you have a sewing machine foot that applies binding on both sides simultaneously—this is the time to use it! I don’t have one (the budget said no this month 😅), but it would’ve saved time and been a slightly more polished look.
Step 4:
Take your hand towel piece and fold it in half, short ends together. Sew along the raw edge to create the back seam of the hood (see video at 4:30). Note: You might need a wider seam allowance (¾" or more) to accommodate the added thickness from the bias binding—test first.
Step 5:
Fold your body towel in half and mark the center with a pin. Do the same with your hood, then align the two pins and sew the hood to the towel body. I stitched through the bias binding and went over the seam several times for extra durability.
And there you have it—your luxe, handmade hooded towel! Mine is going to a very special little girl who will be joining our extended family later this month, and I can’t wait to see her all bundled up in the petite floral prints.
Thank you for joining me on this little sewing adventure! I hope you feel inspired to “romance the ordinary” in your next project. To get started with your own Bessie Pearl bias binding, use code ALEXIS20 for 20% off orders of $50 or more.
Happy sewing!
Alexis
Stitched by Alexis
