How To Make a Towel Dragon
Sometimes I use towel animals from cruise ships on my blog and sometimes I come up with my own designs. These dragons are creations of my own imagination.
fire-breathing towel dragon
Dragons are a fairly difficult towel animal to make and are best suited for experienced towel animal folders. If you are a beginner and want to make a dragon anyway try the small dragon first because it is the easiest.
Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Dragon
different types of towel dragons: multicolor – majestic, green and striped – big, black – small
For a Majestic Dragon: 1 bath towel, 2 hand towels, 1 beach towel
For a Big Towel Dragon: 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels
For a Small Dragon: 1 bath towel, 1 hand towel, 2 wash cloths
eyes (googly eyes or bits of felt or paper)
flames made from paper or felt
nostrils made from paper or felt
pipe cleaner (in craft stores may be called chenille stem)
How to Fold a Towel Dragon Body
tightly roll both short sides of a bath towel to the center
All sizes of dragons use a bath towel for the body.
Fold the rolled towel in half, rolls to the outside. Pull tips out of the center of each roll.
Take the tips from both ends of one roll in one hand and the tips from both ends of the other roll in the other hand and pull until the rolls pull into legs and the middle into a body.
flip finished towel animal body over
How to Fold a Towel Dragon Tail
hang center of one long side of tail towel on a wall hook or tuck it under your chin. Roll both sides to the center as tightly as possible.
The big dragon and the majestic dragon use hand towels for the tail.
Keeping your tail rolls as tight as possible, tuck tail rolled side up between the leg rolls on the body. Make sure the solid edge of the towel is on top of the body and all loose ends are contained between the leg rolls.
The small dragon uses a washcloth for the tail.
How to Fold a Towel Dragon Head
Just like the tail, hang center of one edge of long side on wall peg or tuck under your chin. Roll both sides together as tightly as possible. This will be more difficult than the tail because it is a bigger towel and really tight rolls are more important.
The majestic dragon uses a beach towel for the head and neck.
Place the end of the tightly rolled towel between the leg rolls of the body opposite the tail. Tuck any long loose ends in between the tail rolls.
The big dragon uses a bath towel for the head and neck.
the head and tail towels tucked into the body with the head towel’s loose ends tucked into the tail
The small dragon uses a hand towel for the head and neck.
Take one pair of legs in hand and bring them over top of the head and tail towels to meet the other pair of legs. Keep the motion going to roll the whole body over until it is standing.
Adjust leg position as needed so dragon body stands on its own.
How to Fold Towel Dragon Wings
Fold over about an inch across one edge of the long side of the wing towel
The big dragon and the majestic dragon use hand towels for the wings.
Flip the towel over and make another fold in the opposite direction.
The small dragon uses a washcloth for the wings.
Continue making small folds across the towel.
When done the wing towel will look something like a fan
wrap a pipe cleaner around the center of the wing towel and twist it tight
Insert the ends of the pipe cleaner into the folds of the body so the wings stand up a bit above the dragon’s back. Position wings as desired.
If you don’t have a pipe cleaner just pinch the center of the wing towel together on the dragon’s back after making the fan-like folds and spread out each wing as desired.
Finishing the Towel Dragon
Raise the head and neck towel. Curve the base of the neck back so it rests on top the wings. Curve the top of the neck forward and the head down. Adjust to desired position. A beach towel gives this majestic dragon a very long neck.
Decorating the Towel Dragon
Decorate dragon with eyes, nostrils, and flames. The googly eyes and paper flames have double-stick tape holding them on this small dragon, but the felt nostrils stay on their own.
big towel dragon
For step-by-step instructions on how to fold a variety of other towel animals, please visit My Cruise Stories Towel Animal Page.
this dragon needs tighter rolls
Cruise Stories 
I bet these dragons would score a big hit with small-fry cruisers. If I was a kid and saw one of those on my bed, I would have gone ballistic if anyone would dare touch it. I was always very protective of my inanimate zoo. For example, I could never eat my foil covered chocolate Easter rabbit, no matter how much change my siblings would offer me for the ears. I did not want to deafen my chocolate rabbit! When my grandmother made us Easter bread treats, she always made sure to make mine a basket — something she knew I would inhale. (Her Easter bread was superb.) If you folded a towel basket, I might use that one on my sopping wet being.
How’s your elbow?
These dragons are my own invention never before seen on a cruise ship, though it is possible they might start appearing on cruise ships now because there are some cabin stewards who read my blog. Luckily I had this blog done before I broke my elbow because I would not be able to make these dragons right now. The doctor said to start moving it some and might have sent me home without the splint if it weren’t for my tendency to get dizzy when the splint comes off. Getting dizzy and crashing the car on the way home seemed like a bad idea so he put it back on, but without the padding. (I suppose to encourage me to take it off ASAP when I got home.) I do have one towel folding blog for an inanimate object, but it’s a cake rather than a basket. https://mycruisestories.com/2012/03/23/how-to-make-a-towel-cake/
Absolutely brilliant. You know I love your folding towels 😀 ❤
Thanks!
Greatest towel animal ever!
My favorite one so far.
It is very attractive. It would be a real eye-catcher where ever it was displayed.