My mom used to make these cover ups for us when I was a kid, so I am really excited to make some for my kids!! They are a great option for use after swimming or playing in the sprinkler. The kids are usually freezing after water play, so it’s awesome to be able to just throw a cover up on and let them warm up! Wrapping a towel around them never seems to work because they trip on it or it constantly comes unwrapped. It’s also great being able to repurpose a towel into a cute cover up! I’ll show you how to make a regular version or a hooded version and how to increase, or decrease, the size of the neck to your (or your kid’s) preference! Ready? Let’s make a cover up!
Materials
- A towel
- A bowl or other circular item to use as a template
- Scrap paper
- Basic sewing supplies
- Hood pattern (optional)
Regular Cover Up option
If you want the hooded option, skip ahead to “Hooded Cover Up Option” heading! The regular version is awesome for a super quick and easy sew! I think this one took me less than 15 minutes to make start to finish. I even took pictures along the way! This is a great option for a beginner who wants and easy project, too!
- To start, determine how big you want your neckline to be.
- I measured a hoodie neckline to make sure that I made it big enough and added some extra since the towel doesn’t stretch at all!
- My bowl for this option measured about 6.25 inches (diameter). The finished neckline is bigger than needed, but I like it nice and loose so it is super easy to put on! You can definitely make it smaller if you prefer! The template for the hooded option was about 7.25 inches, so you can see the difference and use that to judge how big or small you want your neck to be!
- You can also start small and keep trying it on your kiddo to determine how much bigger you want it. Keep in mind that you will be hemming it so it will be looser in the end!
- After you find your circle template in the size you wish, trace it on a piece of paper.
- Fold the paper in half and in half again the other way to find the center point.
- Mark the center
center point
Time to cut your neckline
- Take your towel and fold it in half.
- Match the hems of the short edge.
- Smooth it out and keep it nice and flat.
- Now, you are going to find the center of the top edge of the towel. This is the folded edge, not the hemmed edge.
- Fold your towel in half the other way.
- You will be matching the long sides this time.
- Mark the fold. This is your center.
- Unfold the second fold that you made (you should still have your center marked).
- With your circle template folded in half one time (so it’s a semi circle shape), match up the center of the circle with the center of the towel.
- Cut around your template.
- I highly suggest trying on the towel really quickly here, just to make sure you don’t need to make your neckline bigger. Again, keep in mind, it will be a little bigger than it is now after you hem it!
Hem the neckline
- I serged around the neckline to finish the edge before I hemmed it. If you don’t have a serger, you can use a zig zag stitch or a double folded hem.
- After serging, fold the edge in toward the wrong side of the cover up. (Fold twice to enclose the raw edges if you did not finish the edge!)
- Stitch around the entire neckline.
Sew the side seams and then you’re done!
- Fold your towel in half right sides together.
- Match the hems again.
- Measure down from the top fold, this is where the arm holes will be.
- I measured down 6 inches from the top. That’s where my kids liked it. I tried on the cover up and moved the clips up until they liked the size of the arm holes. Your kid might like it higher or lower than that.
- Sew the side seam from that mark all the way to the bottom hem.
- Since the towel is already hemmed on the bottom and sides, you don’t even have to finish the side seams after sewing them!
Ta Da! Your cover up is all done!! 🙂
Hooded Cover Up Option
- To make the hood, I cut off the very bottom of the towel so the hood matched the cover up. If you don’t want to lose length on the cover up, you could use another towel or even hand towels.
- I used the hood from the Kids’ Halftime Hoodie Pattern. My hood is a size 4. Use whatever size fits your kiddo!
- Put the hood pattern along the hemmed edge of the towel (the short edge!)
- Cut one hood piece.
- Flip the pattern piece upside down and place it along the hemmed edge again. Make sure you flip it upside down for the second hood piece! You want mirrored images!
- Cut the second hood piece.
- Use the hemmed edge of the towel so that you don’t have to hem your hood! It saves you a step!
Close up of the hood right on the hemmed edge 
- Place the hood pieces right sides together and clip along the curved edge.
- Sew the curved edge and finish your seam allowance so that it does not fray. I used my serger for this.
Hemming the bottom edge
- If you cut the hood off the towel, use a straight edge to straighten up your hemline.
- Fold the raw edge toward the wrong side of the fabric.
- Fold it again to create your hem and enclose all the raw edges.
- Stitch along the edge to hem the towel.
Fold once 
Fold twice 
Stitch along the edge to hem the short edge of the towel
Make your neckline template
- To start, determine how big you want your neckline to be.
- I measured a hoodie neckline to make sure that I made it big enough and added some extra since the towel doesn’t stretch at all!
- My bowl for this option measured about 7.25 inches (diameter). The finished neckline on this one is way too big for my kiddo, but I wanted to show an example of how to increase the neckline. I had to use the same model though! The template for the non-hooded option was 6.25 inches, so you can see the difference and use that to judge how big, or small, you want your neck to be! You can also start smaller than this and keep trying it on your kiddo to determine how much bigger you want it. Keep in mind that you will be hemming it so it will be looser in the end!
- After you find your circle template in the size you wish, trace it on a piece of paper.
- Fold the paper in half and in half again the other way to find the center point.
- Mark the center
Cut your neckline
- Take your towel and fold it in half.
- Match the hems of the short edge.
- Smooth it out and keep it nice and flat.
- Now, you are going to find the center of the top edge of the towel. This is the folded edge, not the hemmed edge.
- Fold your towel in half the other way.
- You will be matching the long sides this time.
- Mark the fold. This is your center.
The top folded corner is your center. Mark this.
- Unfold the second fold that you made (you should still have your center marked).
- With your circle template folded in half one time (so it is a semi-circle shape), match up the center of the circle with the center of the towel.
- Cut around your template.
- I highly suggest trying on the towel really quickly here, just to make sure you don’t need to make your neckline bigger. Again, keep in mind, it will be a little bigger than it is now after you hem it!
Attach the hood to your cover up
- Fold your neckline in half to find the center. Mark the back center.
- With the hood and cover up right sides together, match the seam of the hood to the center of the neckline. Be sure that the hood is attached to the back of your cover up!
- Clip the hood around the neckline.
- Sew the hood to the neckline.
- Finish the seam allowance with a serger or zig zag stitch.
- When I serged this seam, I serged all the way around the neckline to finish the whole edge.
I serged the neckline, too
Hem the rest of the neckline
- Fold the edge of the neckline toward the wrong side of your cover up.*
- Stitch along the edge.
- *If you did not finish this edge with a serger or zig zag stitch, you will want to fold the edge once and then again to enclose the raw edges inside the hem, otherwise, it will fray on you. After folding it twice, then you can stitch along the edge to hem it.
Almost done! Sew the side seams
- Fold your towel in half right sides together.
- Match the hems again.
- Measure down from the top fold, this is where the arm holes will be.
- I measured down 6 inches from the top. That’s where my kids liked it. I tried on the cover up and moved the clips up until they liked the size of the arm holes. Your kid might like it higher or lower than that.
- Sew the side seam from that mark all the way to the bottom hem.
- Since the towel is already hemmed on the bottom and sides, you don’t even have to finish the side seams after sewing them!
Sew from here down to the hem 
This opening at the top is the armhole
Woo hoo! You now have a hooded cover up!
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