Hooded Towel, Washies, and a Giveaway!

**The giveaway is now closed**

Back in April, just before I did the March of Dimes March for Babies, I committed to hosting a giveaway by the end of May if I met my fundraising goal. And I did! $190 to the cause of helping sick babies heal and go home to their families. I'm so honored that I get the chance to participate in activities like that, and as promised (though at the 11th hour), I'm hosting my first giveaway!

First, some background. About 2 weeks after my promise, I FINALLY won a giveaway! I'd just about given up on them. But I won the My Bella Baby Little Washies giveaway that Stacey @ Fun To Craft hosted. I was so excited! And I was absolutely thrilled with the washies when I got them! They are to die for.


I toyed with the idea of saving them for a baby gift but decided I wanted to keep them for myself. They looked simple, and I thought that I could make something similar for future gifts.

And as it happens, I have two friends who's babies are getting to be SIX months, and I decided that I'd make hooded towels with matching washies for them. Let me tell you, I learned my lesson. The quality of Kayla's washies is absolutely unmatched, and it's obvious that she is a skilled and meticulous seamstress. Me? I don't have enough patience with much detail. I think I've mentioned once or twice that I hate hand sewing... So after making a few, I decided that in future I'd outsource. :)

So, before I announce the giveaway, I want to show you the hooded towels and washies I made. For the life of me, I can't find a tutorial for the hooded towel. I just kind of threw some ideas from various tutorials together. I'd also made a few in the past. I made the hood of the towel very similar to this tutorial, though I used the hand towel with the finished edge framing the face rather than sewn to the big towel (does that make any sense?). I also added one new feature this time (that I LOVE) and that is a little pleated detail in the center back of the large towel. I got the pleat idea from this tutorial, step 5. So, how did it turn out? I'll show you, but I warn you that the pictures are WASHED out. I do all my crafting in the evening, so the pictures are generally wretched. I'm learning.

Anywho, here's the detail of the ribbon framing the face:

And here's the little pleat in the back. I used a mixing bowl for the shape to round the back of the hood.

I love how they turned out! And here are the towel and washies together. Notice that the material for the washies matches the ribbon? Like, exactly? I love it.


Then I wrapped them all up around a bottle of this (cucumber melon baby wash!? Be still my heart. I can't wait to have a girl...):

...and tied a matching ribbon around it. One of my friend's gave me this at my baby shower for my son, and it's still one of my favorite gifts.


So, now for the giveaway! I wanted to give away a matching towel and washies, and I thought about making the washies for the giveaway myself, but I feel like since they're Kayla's idea, I don't want to try to edge in on her market. So I contacted her, and she's agreed to make the washies to match the towel!

So, the winner will get one towel with five matching washies. The winner will be able to choose girl, boy, or gender neutral (so pretty much any baby color for the towel). I'll then go fabric shopping (darn!) for a matching print in that category that has a matching ribbon. Kayla has minky, chenille, and terry cloth that you can choose from for the other side of the washies, but she usually picks trying to best match the cotton print. So unless you have your heart set on one of the three, I would trust her judgment. :)

There's only one way to enter: go check out Kayla's etsy shop and/or blog and leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite product is. The giveaway ends at midnight central time on Saturday the 29th of May. Make sure you leave your email address on your comment and/or your blogger profile is enabled with it for me to get in touch with you.

Good luck!

**Edited to add: Upon further consideration (and suggestions for the peanut gallery), I've decided to add one more way that you can enter. If you blog about it (and put the link in your giveaway) or post it in your facebook status or twitter, etc, (with the giveaway URL), come back and leave me a comment letting me know for one more entry!