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I am a photography fanatic. I love taking pictures, tweaking pictures, and finding the beauty in every day items

Monday, June 9, 2008

Home Made Towels

My grandma makes the best dish towels. Yea that is what I said and I mean it. I never thought I could fall in love with something as silly as a dish towels, but I did. They absorb things great, dry dishes perfectly, drying hands are a snap, and they will clean counter tops till they sparkle. Besides liking the towels because they are perfect is every way, they hold a deep sentimental value for me.
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They were different than other towels I had seen. They had such a cute country feeling to them and they always had an embroidered image on them that my grandmother had hand sewn. I grew up loving those towels and all the pictures of the kittens cleaning, puppies playing, and milk maids on the farm.
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I recently decided that I wanted to make my own; my own set of dish towels that would work great and my girls could see and love also. So, I called my grandma and asked her what she used... and ... well... it was simple. REALLY SIMPLE. All you need is...
  • Flour sack fabric (you can buy pre-cut and packaged fabric from Wal-Mart for about $4 bucks)
  • Embroidery thread
  • Needle
  • Pattern (either one you have made from paper or an iron on transfer that can be bought from any craft store)
  • Quilting hoop
First, make a pattern that you are going to use to cut the fabric that you want to sew on the towel. I wanted a bird, so I drew a bird with a pencil and when I got what I liked, I traced it with pen. I then cut out the bird, I also cut the wing out of the body because I wanted the wing to be a different color fabric.

When I had my pattern for the bird and wing, I placed them and pinned them on their fabric. Once they were succoured, I cut them out leaving me with one fabric wing and one fabric body.
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Take one of the flour sack towels and iron it flat. Once you have it wrinkle free, go ahead and pin the fabric wing and body where you would like them sewn. Just make sure that you don't put them too close the the edge, or you wont have enough room for the hoop to hold the fabric completely. Once they are pinned on, put the hoop on.

Now take your thread and needle and GO TO TOWN. Stitch the pieces on any way you would like to. If you don't know how to stitch, there are plenty of websites that can show you how to. Here is a website that show some fairly good images.

You can really get creative with these towels. You can either sew fabric on like I did or buy iron on transfers that will put an image right on the towel for you to trace with thread; which are very handy and reusable. You can make a whole Sunday-Saturday towel set. You can even sew ribbon on the edges to help give it a nice crisp cut feel. So have fun and get creative.

39 comments:

  1. Thanks for reading my blog! I didn't think anyone was reading it!!! I love your site and will add you to my favorites!

    Crystal

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  2. I have always wanted to do little projects like this...i got into knitting before Abigail was born, and then when she was due and so were a bunch of friends at the same time, i tried to knit washcloths for everyone, i got about half way thru the first one and gave up...i love the towels though. great idea to pass them along.

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  3. Those remind me of some towels my grandma used to have. Aww.

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  4. I used to do the embroidery from those patterns, but I've never tried doing them as applique. This is a great idea, thanks!

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  5. That does sound easy. Thanks for posting this. You and your family have got to have the craftiest people in them. I am jealous.

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  6. Okay, where in the world do you find time? I made my families stockings, but that is about as creative as I get - and I, of course, had an easy pattern laid out. Wow!

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  7. Awwww...I love this project! I've seen tea towels are target, too. They're pricer but they come in a nice khaki/linen color! :)

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  8. I grew up with those towels also and loved them. Thanks for reminding me.

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  9. that is a cute towel!! I love reading your crafty blogs!

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  10. that is a cute towel!! I love reading your crafty blogs!

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  11. I wish I was that crafty! Thise are really cute.

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  12. I LOVE this idea. And great dish towels are so nice to have. And how special that you have some your grandma made. I'm so sentimental now that all my grandparents have been gone for decades and both parents now gone in the last few years, items that belonged to them are priceless. What a blessing to be able to call your grandma and ask her about them.

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  13. Those are precious! What a great idea!

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  14. Man...my hats off to you girl!

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  15. Ohh my gosh! So cute.....although not so simple to me. If it involves any sort of sewing, I am out!!

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  16. So cute! My grandma makes the same towels! They certainly are wonderful!

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  17. Those are so cute. My Grandma used to make towels like that too. I have a table cloth she embroidered. My sister has the dish towels. You are so crafty, you inspire me.
    http://mixedblessings4.blogspot.com/

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  18. Those are so cute. My Grandma used to make towels like that too. I have a table cloth she embroidered. My sister has the dish towels. You are so crafty, you inspire me.
    http://mixedblessings4.blogspot.com/

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  19. You make me want to find my inner martha. These are so cute.

    Always great posts.

    LC

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  20. that is sooooooo cute! I won't be trying it but I am always impressed by your craftiness : ) I think if I were that crafty I would just want to show off and not share my skills. You are humble and generous!

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  21. Seriously, what DON'T you do? Come on. Anything? Nothing, right? You do it ALL.

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  22. handmade what?! NO way. YOu make your own? You are C.R.A.F.T.Y. girlfriend, with a capital C.

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  23. I would never have thought they would be made out of flour sacks! Very cool!

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  24. That is totally adorable! I only wish I were as crafty as you are.

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  25. Aren't we Crafty? Cute towels. How do you find the time???

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  26. Those are so beautiful and classic :) I love it! I wish I could be more crafty.

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  27. ♡ Very nice! Those are my favorites too! They work so great!

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  28. You are so creative. Would the fusible webbing work to hold the pattern pieces to the towel til sewn on? I use that a lot with my applique baby quilts.

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  29. Yes I think you can use that. I am going to try it this weekend on some baby oneies.

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  30. What a great tutorial!!! I'm going to try this with some of our Pimp Stitch patterns!

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  31. Those are so cute and I think you have inspired me to try it out!

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  32. Really cute Melissa--love that birdy.

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  33. I was "Googling" how to make hand towels and your blog on the flour sack towels came up and I started browsing your website - I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I am going to bookmark it if you don't mind. :) I have a baby shower to go to and was thinking about what to make that would be useful and you have some great ideas for that! Thanks for sharing your blog!

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  34. I love your towels. I just started making them myself and love doing it. They have turned out so cute and also remind me of my great-grandmother. I still have some post holders that she made when I was a baby. She is long gone but I still have something that I can use every day to keep her close to my heart. Also, I have found the flour sack dish towels at Dollar Tree just this week. Thanks for your post!

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