With a few brightly colored hand towels and our template, you can create fanciful bath mitts inspired by creatures of the sea. Best of all, these fish, coral, and starfish are sure to encourage your children to bathe in the warm, safe waters of their tubs.

Making a Kid's Bath Mitt How-To
To make a seaweed or coral mitt:
Print and cut out the template. Use orange and red towels for coral, or green for seaweed. Pin template to towel, positioning the straight edge of the template in line with the selvage edge of the towel. You'll need two pattern pieces for each mitt; cut out pattern pieces one at a time, as terrycloth towels are too thick to cut through two layers. Lay the two pattern pieces face to face and pin. Sew around the body with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, leaving an opening as indicated on each template. Then, use a zigzag stitch to prevent the edges from fraying.

For the starfish mitt:
Cut out the pattern pieces as you would for a seaweed mitt. Before the pieces are pinned together, cut a notch extending 1/4 inch from the edge on either side of the opening, as indicated on the template. Using a zigzag stitch, sew from notch to notch to prevent the fabric from fraying. Turn this edge under, and topstitch. Continue as above.

For the fish mitt:
The fish is embellished with fins made of 2-mm-thick colored craft foam and felt eyes, which are attached before the two pattern pieces are sewn together. Cut out pattern pieces as for coral mitt. With the template in place, mark fin, gill, and eye placement on both towel pattern pieces. Cut out fin and eye templates; pin to foam and felt, respectively, and cut out two fins and two eyes. With a running stitch, attach one fin to each pattern piece. Use embroidery thread and a whipstitch or French knot to attach one eye to each pattern piece. Continue as above.

Kid's Bath Mitts template