Eva McLean, 6, dries off and warms up in a cozy hooded bath towel.

Sew a simple fingertip or hand towel to a colorful bath towel in contrasting colors and your child will have a clever hooded cover-up that can be used every time he or she finishes play and swim time in a lake, the ocean or a swimming pool. It’s a plain and simple, cozy solution for the post-swim chill. Come fall, it’s just as useful and comforting when getting out of the bathtub. Whatever the wet occasion, being wrapped in this hooded bath towel from head to toe feels oh so good.

Once you see how quickly it comes together, sewing just two seams, get inspired to make more for birthday party presents — and even for a baby shower gift, by reducing the towel dimensions for a baby or toddler size.

Enlist your older kids to help you measure and pin. If they’ve never used a sewing machine, it’s a good first sewing project because of the simple straight seams.

Here’s the stuff you’ll need for a hooded towel for a young school-age child:

• 1 fingertip towel with or without fringe, about 11 by 18 inches
• 1 bath towel in similar or contrasting color, about 25 by 48 inches
• straight pins
• thread
• large button or a 2-inch strip of hook and loop fastener, such as Velcro brand (optional)
• sewing machine

Here’s the fun:

1. Fold the fingertip towel in half widthwise with right sides facing. Pin one of the short sides together with straight pins.

2. Sew along the pinned side, allowing for a 1/2-inch seam. Turn right-side out. You have now made the hood portion.

3. Measure, and mark with tailor’s chalk or a pin, the center point on one of the long edges of the bath towel. Now, mark the center point on the unsewn length of the fingertip towel. Match the points of the towels and pin them together, right sides facing.

4. Stitch the towels together from one end of the pinned fingertip towel to the other.

5. Fit the hooded towel on your child. For a front closure, stitch strips of Velcro to the bath towel, or make a buttonhole and sew on a button (optional).

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Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.”

© 2018 Donna Erickson

Distributed by King Features Syndicate

—PRIME TIME WITH KIDS: ’Sew easy’ hooded bath and swim towel–