How to make a Ladybug Hooded Towel (Guest Post)

I am so excited to welcome Amber, from Crazy Little Projects. She has made an incredible start as a brand new blogger, and already has a great collection of tutorials and projects. Now, to Amber…

Hi Lines Across My Face Readers! Thanks so much to Rachel for having me as a guest poster.

I am Amber from the brand new blog Crazy Little Projects. Please come check me out for more sewing tutorials as well as fun things to do with kids, great recipes (think chocolate) and more! Better yet, like me on Facebook and we can be friends for a long time.

I love making these hooded towels for several reasons. First, they are SO nice to use with babies clear up to toddler, preschooler and even young elementary school age kids. Much warmer, larger and more absorbent than store bought towels. Second, they are so cute and you can get so creative with the animals. I am featuring a towel of the month on my blog (you can see the frog towel from last month here).

This month I give you…a ladybug!

And the view from the back:

This towel is really pretty easy to make and they are a huge hit at baby showers! It’s going to cost you maybe $10 (maybe even less) and take you an hour or so to make it (depending on your sewing experience).

What you need:
1 regular size bath towel in hot pink or red (I get mine at Target for around $5
1 black hand towel
About 1/4 yard black fabric
Iron on transfer paper
Small amount of cotton stuffing
A tiny bit of white fabric (if you are adding eyes to yours)
Pattern Pieces for antennae and eyes

Start out by cutting your black hand towel in half the hamburger way (meaning you end up with a short and fat half hand towel, not long and skinny).

Fold the top over about 4 inches or so, pin it in place and sew it:

Using these pattern pieces, cut out 4 pieces for the antennae and several spots. I usually do about 4 spots but you can do as many or as few as you like.

If you are adding eyes to yours, cut those out too. Using your iron on transfer paper, iron them in place where you want them and then do a tight zig zag stitch (applique) around the edges of them to keep them permanently in place.

Sew 2 pieces of the antennae together, turn right side out and stuff.

Now, take your hand towel and position your antennae where you want them and cut a small slit right through the towel to poke them down into. This picture gives you an idea of where to place them:

Stick them through the slits and do a zig zag over them on the underside several times to keep them in place and to close the slits you just made:

Fold your towel in half so that the face and antennae are inside and zig zag up the raw edge to form the hood.

Now, using your pink or red towel, place your spots where you want them. It helps to use the iron on stuff to keep them in place, though you don’t have to. Once you have them where you want them, use a tight zig zag (applique) stitch around the edge of the spot to sew them on.

The next step is optional but make the towel easier to wrap around the child.

I add a little pleat to the towel right in the center of the long side. Right where you are going to sew your head on.  Fold the towel in to form the pleat and then zig zag it.

Now simply pin you head in place centered on the towel and centered on the pleat and zig zag it in place.

You’re done! I hope it went well.

Remember to check out the frog tutorial as well and watch for a monkey, duck, owl, dragon and more in the coming months.