HOODIE TOWEL FOUR: POCKETS & FINAL TWEAKS

Finishing the towel robe!  Here's where it got a little more creative.  I hemmed the bottom and made some tweaks based on my friend's feedback.

 

HEMMING THE BOTTOM

When testing out the robe, my friend reported that the longer length was nice for warmth, but got in the way when moving around or bending over to pick things up. 

Making the robe shorter.

I shortened the hem about 4-5", and then folded the edge under a 1/2".  My final robe measured 45 1/4" long when pinned.

It was easiest to pin the hem on the floor.

I stitched the hem down with the matching double row of zig-zag (I should note that I compared the neck seam, which was only folded under once, with the hood and sleeve seams, which were folded under twice, creating a triple row of fabric.  There was not much difference in sturdiness or thickness, so I decided to skip that extra pinning and stitching step for the bottom hem, and only folded it once).

Stitching the hem down.

 

SIDE-SEAM ACCESS FOR CLOTHES

This was a completely original idea that my friend proposed.  He asked if it would be possible to add a small hole in the robe to pull clothes through when changing.  I ended up stitching some of my hem scraps together to make a panel to go under one sleeve. 

Using scraps to create my inner "pocket."

This is very similar to inner-pocket construction, but without the inner seam you get an armpit tunnel instead of a pocket...

Stitching the panel into place.

Then the robe was tried on.  The armpit access was functional and discreet.  I trimmed down the edges and stitched the panel down again.

Test-panel: tacked in place.  

POCKETS

Pockets can be simple or very complex.  I found this fun blog that gives you beautiful examples of 10 kinds of pockets.  She also provides links to tutorials for each one.

 

So...Inner vs. Outer Pockets?

 

I wasn't sure if I should make inner, hidden pockets, or a more visible "patch" pocket.  I figured that patches would allow me more freedom.  I had some scraps of the right size left, so I made two to test out.

 

I started with two 7" squares, for the pockets, and two 7" x 3" rectangles, for a decorative lapel:

I pinned one rectangle onto the opposite color square.  Then I pinned the other three sides of the rectangle, tucking all edges under to create a finished, slightly rounded lapel.

I stitched the main seam connecting the lapel to the pocket.   I then flipped the lapel over to have both right sides of the fabric face up, and tacked the lapel down using the same finishing techniques I used on the hood--two rows of zig-zag with a variegated (multi-hue) green thread.

One row of zig-zag stitch

 

Two rows of zig-zag--a well-secured seam, and a matching look.

These patch pockets would be a great way to add some design embellishment.  You can embroider or stitch some shapes onto your patch, and then slap that pocket onto your robe, and voila!  Instant flair! 

 

For this robe, we chose to stay relatively plain.  We did decide to add Velcro to the pocket opening, for the safe storage of car keys, etc.

 

I marked the pocket location with pins, and then pinned down and sewed Velcro onto the pocket and robe. I used a double-row of zig-zag around the edges to hold the Velcro strips down.  Note: the Velcro packaging recommended having the hooked strip face away from the body for better function, so I sewed that piece onto the robe.

Positioning the Velcro and pocket.

Sewing Velcro into place.



I inverted the pocket so that it was inside out and upside down, and stitched the bottom seam of the pocket to the robe with two rows of zig-zag.  I then folded it up into place and pinned the sides under.

Pinning the sides of the pocket to the robe.

I sewed around the sides and bottom of the pocket twice with the zig-zag stitch.  I stitched each side of the Velcro opening several more times to reinforce the seam, since they will see extra wear and tear.



The finished pocket.

The finished pocket, close up.

 And there you have it!  The saga of the hoodie towel robe is complete...
The finished product:

 

 The pocket is in the front right (green) panel when worn, and the clothing access is directly under the left (brown) armpit.


Full front view.

Full back view.

 

 Good luck with your own!

HOODIE TOWEL THREE: ADDING SLEEVES & FINISHING THE HOOD

As you know, I had already completed a functional hoodie.  All I really needed to do was hem all unfinished edges and send it out into the world.  But I wanted to do more!

SLEEVES
A poncho is simply a folded-over panel, with a neck hole.  I had stitched mine into a large square tube, making it more of a robe.  That was all I really needed.  However, I knew from the sweatshirt hoodie that I was using as a sizing reference that my friend had longer arms than the width of my robe.  For increased warmth (and privacy while changing), I decided to add narrow sleeves.

I cut out two 14" squares.  I folded each square in half and pinned and stitched it to create a 7" wide tube.

I turned the sleeves right-side-out, so that the stitched seam was on the inside and along the bottom edge when laid flat.  Then I slipped each sleeve into an armhole, and pinned it in place.  The sleeve is aligned so that the folded edge is pinned to the top corner of the shoulder seam, and the stitched edge is at the armpit.  I also pinned the unneeded open portion of the side panel closed.

 Stitching the sleeves into place is easier from the inside:

FINISHING THE HOOD EDGE:

I decided that the robe I was making had enough going on pattern-wise, so I would not edge the hood with a different fabric.  Instead, since I had left extra fabric to allow for a deep hood, I simply folded the fabric edges inward, and pinned them.  This gave me a 1/2" seam, that I tacked down with a straight stitch.

I stitched the seam on the "right" side of the fabric, for better control:

I then folded this seam inward again, and pinned it down.  I stitched two zig-zag seams (at 1/4" and 1/2") to hold the thicker roll of fabric down securely and to add a little design flair.

At this point, my friend tried on the robe, and asked for a little more neck room.  I cut the neck area to provide a slight V-neck, and pinned the fabric down for my standard 1/4" seam.

A close up:

The robe was now functional and ready for a test-run.  I should note that I zig-zagged all inner seams except for the side seams, in case I might need to rip the seams and adjust the fit or add potential inner pockets. I also left the bottom hem unfinished (for the same reasons).

Test-Run: Surfing at Sunset

 

Next week: Final Touches, Pockets, etc.

 

 



HOODIE TOWEL TWO: HOOD & BODY

To begin: I had two pieces of fabric, each approximately two yards squared.

I started out by folding each color fabric in half and cutting off the top 14", and setting the larger portions aside.  The person this robe is for is 6' tall, so I wanted to allow plenty of fabric for the main body of the robe.

I now had two 14" x 72" pieces to use for my hood, sleeves, and pockets.

HOOD
I started out by measuring the sweatshirt hoodie.  The base of the hood was 26" in diameter when zipped, and the roomy hood was 15 1/2" high when folded in half.  Now, when wearing a zipped hoodie, your head does not need to fit through the neck hole.  I wanted the hood to be a little wider at the base, so that my friend could fit his head through the neck hole.  I decided to leave a little extra space at the front of the neck to allow for this.

I started out by cutting two 13" x 14" rectangles, one of each color.

 I pinned two adjoining sides together to create the hood shape, and stitched my pinned sides together.

Now, I want to point out here that I made everything much more complicated by using two colors.   If I were making a hoodie robe out of one color, I could have cut out one rectangle for the head, two rectangles for the body, and an additional two rectangles for sleeve extensions (which are optional).  For example, I could have taken a 26" x 14" rectangle, folded it in half, and pinned the top to create the hood:

Not Used: A rectangle, folded into a single-color hood.

Once my hood was stitched together, I had to decide if I wanted a cone-shaped hood.  Many of the tutorials I had read recommended cutting off the corner of the hood, to create a more rounded fit.

 

I found that the hood still had a very boxy shape when worn, so I ended up using the sweatshirt hoodie to trace a more rounded hood.

At this point, most tutorials I read suggest trimming the front edge of the hood with a piece of bias fabric (an accent fabric with all edges folded under that creates a pretty, presentable edge), so that you can sew it onto the body of the garment as a finished piece.   I was not sure how I wanted to finish the hood, so I decided not to finish the outer edge at this point.

BODY
To make the body more interesting, I cut out four panels of fabric.  The body would be comprised of four alternating colors, sort of like a harlequin costume.  Each panel was approximately 18" x 58".

I pinned two panels together lengthwise, and rolled my joined fabrics up into a nice log, with the pinned edge on the outside.  I have found that this facilitates moving and sewing large pieces of fabric.

 All you need to do is position your roll of fabric next to your sewing machine.  The bottom half of the fabric sits in your lap.  Be aware that having so much fabric in one place creates a lot of weight, so your fabric will try to pull away from the machine.  This makes maintaining an even seam allowance more difficult.  I find that it's helpful to stick my right hand through the center area of the sewing machine and tug the already-stitched fabric lightly to the right, while feeding the unsewn portion of the pinned fabric into the sewing zone with my left.  Sew slowly, taking care to maintain a straight seam, and pause every few inches to readjust your roll of fabric. 

I  pinned and sewed my second pair of panels together in the exact same way.  I then pinned these larger panels to each other on one side, taking care to keep all stitched seams on the same side.

I needed to tack my unsewn shoulder seams together, to facilitate construction, so before sewing my new, larger panels together, I sewed the last inch of each shoulder corner.  I then sewed my two side seams, together, from the bottom up, taking care to eave the final 12" unstitched (this is where the arms will need to come out.
I then pinned and stitched the second side seam to create a tube, again keeping the arm opening unstitched.
My stitched body now looked like this:

ATTACHING THE HOOD
I then pinned just over half of my hood (approximately 8 inches) to the back panel, starting at the middle seam.


Pinned hood.

I pinned the shoulders together up to the hoodie, and then I pinned the remainder of the hoodie base to the now-adjoined front panel.  In this way, I was able to ensure a centered neck hole with enough diameter to be slipped over a head.

I

Pinned hood, front view.

Congratulations!
You now have a robe!
Next week: Finishing the edges, and adding sleeves.

HOODIE TOWEL ONE: GETTING STARTED

THE HOODIE TOWEL CRAZE




Three common types of hoodie towel:
Hooded Cape, Hooded Robe, and Hooded Poncho

There's been a huge craze for children's hoodie towels lately.  There are hoodie capes for infants and toddlers, hoodie bathrobes, and hoodie ponchos--the latter is usually a rectangular towel that has a hole in the middle for your head.  A lot of these towels are super cute, with faces and even teeth on the hoods, and colorful embellishments that turn the towels into animal costumes.

Now, I love how simple it is to turn a functional item like a towel into a shark or a tiger.  Add some eyes and ears and some spikey terry cloth teeth, maybe some paws!  I think this would be a lot of fun.

If you would like to try a couple fun, simple projects of your own, it looks like you basically only need some cheap towels, scissors, some pins, a ruler, and a sewing machine.  I looked at a lot of online tutorials when developing my own towel hoodie (just Google "hoodie towel" for lots of tutorials and images), and it looks like most of the basics are the same.  For a kid's cape, all you have to do is turn half of a hand towel into a hood, sew it onto the full-size towel, and embellish!

These two websites were my favorites: This link shows you links to 25 neat do-it-yourself beach accessories that you can make out of towels.  This link shows how a mom used the elements of a favorite sweatshirt to create a unique towel poncho design.

In this particular instance, I was asked to create a hoodie towel for a grown up.  A friend of mine surfs a lot, and he does not always have access to a place where he can change back into his clothes.  He has a few friends who wear hoodie towels that they got in Japan, and he wanted something similar.  He described the hoodie towel to me as a wide tubular robe with a hood, that was warm on a cold day and was roomy enough to change inside of.

In the following blog series, I will show you how I worked, step by step, to create my first hoodie towel robe.


Brainstorming options for combining color panels

GETTING STARTED
As I said, I started out by looking at lots of DIY tutorials and images online.  Most of the images were of cute animal capes and striped ponchos that were designed for children, and only required a towel and a hand towel.

My hoodie needed to fit an adult man, so I was going to need a lot more fabric.  I will start out by saying that I bought my terry cloth at a fabric store.  In retrospect, I think that I might have saved more money and found more fun designs if I had bought cheap towels.  See what is available near you and decide what works best for you.

The fabric store I went to only had terry cloth in solid colors, so I ended up buying 2 yards of light green fabric and 2 yards of brown.  The green and brown were fun, natural colors that would show fewer stains than the lighter color options, and having two colors would make a giant robe look more interesting.

My materials:

Sewing Machine, Pre-Washed Terry Cloth,
Matching/Complimentary Thread Options, Pins, Scissors,
Ruler & Measuring Tape

I made sure to pre-wash and dry the terry cloth so I wouldn't get uneven shrinkage in future.  Be forewarned: the edges of the fabric shed a lot!  My work table had a steadily-growing collection of terry-cloth-nubbins.

SEWING
With this project, I sewed all seams with straight-stitch first, with a 1/2" seam allowance.

When I was certain that my piecing and fit were correct, I went back over those seams with a zig-zag stitch, with a 1/4" seam allowance (closer to the edge of the fabric).  This is a much more secure stitch.

This method was recommended in a lot of the tutorials I looked at, which recommended a hand towel and a bath towel or beach towel as base materials.  And I would say that these stitches do in general produce a lovely, sturdy, functional item of clothing.   However, since I was not using finished towels for my project, I had a lot of rough edges and cut threads along the inside seams of my robe.  This was especially noticeable on the inside of the hood, which is visible whenever the hood is not being worn.   For a more professional look, if I were to do this project again, I would have given myself a larger seam allowance, at minimum in the hood and neck (maybe 3/4"?).  I would have then folded all edges under and stitched them down, for a cleaner, more presentable seam.

Next week: Creating the hood and body of the robe