How to Sew a Cute Poncho (with Free Easy DIY Sewing Pattern)

Learn how to sew a hooded poncho for you or your kids, using a free, easy method of drafting your own poncho sewing pattern.

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In the summer, we are the kind of family that will spend just about every day at the beach. My husband grew up on a small island called Jersey, just off the coast of France, so every summer we decamp there and spend every waking minute on the sand.

As a result, we’ve become quite the experts at changing our kids in and out of wet, sandy swimming gear, and we have a few solid hacks under our belts. One of the best hacks we’ve found is to have a hooded poncho made of towelling for each of the kids. At the end of the day, we strip them out of their wetsuits, dry them off with a towel and a bit of talc, and then put the towel poncho on.

It’s an absolute gamechanger! No more trying to dress wriggly, sticky babes in hot clothes. Just pop the poncho on and head home.

Here’s how to use my easy poncho tutorial to make a hooded poncho (for next to nothing!)

Why sew your own hooded poncho?

You can buy these hooded towel ponchos relatively easily, but they’re really quick and straightforward to make, so I’ve taken to sewing them using old towels.

In fact, making a DIY poncho is so straightforward that I don’t think it’s something you really need a sewing pattern for. Instead I like to use a free method of self-drafting the pattern using clothes you already have. This method will allow you to make a poncho for any size or shape, child or adult, that you need.

Can I make this out of fleece or other fabrics besides towel?

Yes! You can use this process to make your poncho out of any fabric. You could try making a DIY fleece poncho out of polar fleece fabric for the colder months, wool ponchos from wool fabric or even make a rain poncho from waterproof fabric! Another great idea is to use an old blanket to make a blanket poncho.

How many towels/how much fabric will I need to make this poncho?

If you’re making your poncho out of towels, you’ll need 1 large towel for a small child’s poncho, 2 large towels for a teenager or small adult, and at least 3 towels for most adult sizes. You might find you need to patch together different towels.

If you’re using fabric, 2 metres/yards should be enough for most child’s sizes. Adult sizes will depend greatly on the size of the person you’re making for, so I’d suggest creating your pattern before buying your fabric so you can work out exactly how much you’ll need.

A hooded towel poncho hangs on a wooden hanger. In the background there is a trailing plant and crochet pear wall art.

How to Make a Poncho Sewing Pattern (for Free!)

If you’ve never drafted your own sewing pattern before, you might feel a little intimidated at the idea. I certainly was before I first gave self-drafting a go! But trust me when I say, this is super easy! We’re not going to be taking any complicated measurements or drawing random lines. Instead we’ll use existing pieces of clothing to draft your poncho pattern.

Note that when I made mine I just drafted right onto the towel, but if you’re feeling a bit nervous about doing that, you can draft onto a piece of tracing paper (or even something like old wrapping paper!) and then use that as your sewing pattern.

The image below will give you an idea of what we’re aiming for. The inner line is the line you’ll draw around the garment, the outer line is after seam and hem allowance is added, and the dotted line shows the front neckline. You’ll find detailed steps for how to create this for yourself below the diagram!

A simple DIY sewing pattern labeled Example poncho sewing pattern shows outlines for a rectangular poncho body and a separate curved hood piece, each labeled accordingly. A dotted line indicates the front neckline to sew a poncho easily.

Draw around an existing piece of clothing

You’re going to use an existing piece of clothing as a template. Ideally you want to use a nice big oversized garment with a similar fit to how you’d like your poncho to fit, but if you only have a smaller piece of clothing you can still use it and just add on extra width where you need it.

I’d suggest making it a little too big rather than risk it being too small. If you’re unsure of the size, hold your pattern up to yourself or your child before you cut your fabric. You can see from the picture above that I made mine a little too big, so that my boy could wear it for a couple of years before outgrowing it!

You might also want to slightly widen the head hole for a more relaxed fit. If you’re unsure whether the hole will be big enough, measure the full length of your drafted neckline, cut a piece of string that length and then check you can slip it over your (or your child’s) head. It’s also worth checking that the neck hole won’t be so big that it will start slipping off the shoulders.

Lay out your garment on your towel or tracing paper with the arms out to the sides and get it as flat as you can, then carefully draw around the edges, including the back neckline. You only need to draw around half of the garment since it’s symmetrical!

A woman draws around a floral towel poncho onto another towel with an erasable fabric marker.

When it comes to the neckline, carefully fold back the hood and carefully trace the neck as closely as you can. I promise it doesn’t have to be perfect!

A woman tracing the neckline of a kids towel poncho using a fabric marker.

Neaten up the lines and add seam allowance

Take away the garment you drew round, neaten up any straight lines using a ruler, and try to make all the curves nice and smooth. Then make sure to add 1cm (1/2″) of seam allowance at the side seams, under arms, top of the arms and neckline. You may also need to add 3-5cm (1-2″) of hem allowance at the ends of the sleeves and bottom, or if you’re using towels you could try to match up your hems with the existing towel hems to save work!

Draft the front piece of the poncho

Cut out this back piece, then lay it on to another piece of tracing paper or fabric and draw around it, but this time, carefully trace the front neckline of your piece of clothing. If you widened the neckline on the back piece, widen the front neckline by the same amount. This will give you your front piece.

A woman cuts the neckline of a poncho sewing pattern.

The front and back pieces of the towel poncho with arms out to the side, on top of each other.

Create the hood pattern

Repeat the same process to create your hood pattern. Lay out the hood folded in half, draw round it carefully and add 1cm seam allowance along the curve and the bottom edge. You may also need to add 3cm (1″) allowance for a hem at the front of the hood, or again you could try aligning it with the edge of the towel to save yourself a bit of work.

A woman traces around the hood of a kids towel poncho to create a DIY sewing pattern.

Before you cut the hood pattern, check the total length of the neck hole on your poncho and compare it to the total bottom edge of your hood (ie double the bottom length of your pattern piece). They don’t have to be exactly the same length, but ideally you want them to be within about 5cm (2″) of each other so that you don’t get too much of an overlap or gap at the front where the hood meets the neck hole.

A woman measures the bottom edge of the hood for her towel poncho.

A woman measures the neckline of her towel poncho pieces, to check it matches the bottom edge of the hood.

How to Sew a Hooded Poncho

You will need:

Tracing paper or similar (for your pattern)
Towels or fabric of your choice
A hooded garment to create the pattern
Pencil or erasable fabric marker
Herringbone tape 20mm (3/4″) wide (optional)
Large clear ruler (optional but helpful)

You’ll also need all the usual sewing essentials, including a sewing machine – you can shop my favourites here.

Cut your poncho pieces

Fold your towel in half and lay it flat on your workspace. Take your hoodie or your poncho sewing pattern which you made using the instructions above. You’ll only be marking and cutting one half of the poncho at first. Once you’ve cut that side out, fold it over and use it as a template to cut the other side, so both halves are symmetrical. Do this for both the front and back of the poncho.

A woman cuts the back piece of a hooded towel poncho

Repeat to cut out the hood, making sure you have two mirror image pieces for the two sides of the hood.

A woman cuts the hood for a poncho made from an old towel. The towel is a beige herringbone turkish style towel.

Sew the poncho shoulders

Place the front and back poncho pieces right sides together and sew along each shoulder seam of your poncho. Sewing towel can be a little tricky so if you need to, do a little test on a piece of scrap fabric first to get the hang of it. You might find a walking foot is helpful. Finish the raw edges with a serger or zig zag stitch.

If needed, turn the ends of the sleeves under by the amount you allowed for the hem and stitch in place. Next, hem the front edges of the hood pieces if required. Then place the two hood pieces right sides together and sew along the curved edge to join them.

Sew the neckline and hood

Fold the poncho in half and make a small crease at the centre back. Match the seam of the hood to the centre back, right sides together, then pin the hood carefully around the neck opening. Stitch the hood in place.

A woman creases the centre back of her towel poncho ready to attach the hood. She wears a floral top and there is a crochet blanket in the background.

The hood of the towel poncho is pinned in place at the neckline. In the background is a small pot of pins.

To give your neckline a tidy and durable finish, pin a strip of herringbone tape (or bias tape) to cover the neckline seam you’ve just sewn. This isn’t essential but it will make your poncho look super neat and professional. Fold the raw ends of the tape under to stop them fraying. Then topstitch close to both edges of the tape to secure it neatly in place.

A hooded towel poncho lies on a bed as a woman attaches white herringbone tape to the neckline.

A close up of sewing herringbone tape onto the neckline seam. The ends of the tape have been turned under.

Sew the side seams

Finally, sew down the underarms and side seams of your poncho. If you need to, hem the bottom of the poncho. And with that, your poncho is finished!

If you make your own hooded poncho I’d love to see it! Tag me or message me on Instagram @aboderie.