The perfect tea-towel

                                                

**edited**

When choosing your home-dec material, here are some guidelines:

• make sure your home dec is 100% cotton
• get it without stain-guard
• prewash
• don't use any fabric softner, this repells water (I never use liquid fabric softner or dryer sheets softners when washing my linens)

  

Materials needed:

• 27"X19" piece of 100% cotton home-dec material of choice
• 4 inches cotton twill tape

                                                                     

1.  Press 1/4 inch seam around material

                                                               

2.  Repeat step 1 to enclose raw edge

                                                                                                    

3.  Cut ends of cotton twill tape as shown in picture:

Insert cotton tape into top right corner

so ends are flush with fold then pin in place.

                                                                                        

4.  Sew ironed hem down as close to inside edge as possible

making sure to sew folds at corners

down completely

                                                

And there you have it; your very own, one of a kind, custom-made tea towel in your choice of material!

Comments

[LeeAnn]

Great tutorial and for reminding me I need a few more towels. My husband has a bad habit of using clean towels to mop up food or to use them as pot holders either staining them or burning them. He hasn't grasp the "some towels are good towels and we only use those when we have a pot luck or company is over" idea. Looks like I'll need to make a few and hide for such occasions.

[alpa]

They're so beautiful! Lovely print and color. You would probably think something this simple wouldn't require a tutorial - but for newbie's like me, it's perfect! I really need all the help I can get! Great tutorial!

[Thimbleanna]

Cute as can be and the perfect hostess gift too!

[sarah]

LOVE IT !! would make a great new home gift.
Sarah x

[wendy]

Very pretty! I think I'll go dig out some linen and make some for myself. Thanks for the inspiration :)

[lucykate crafts...]

what a nifty idea, i love the fabric you've used for yours, all our kitchen accessories are red.

[Kate]

Great tutorial - great idea for gifts!

[jenn]

Lovely dishtowel! Perfect for gifts and for one's own kitchen! I love your little piggy as well, so cute, especially the tail!
jenn

[Nanette]

Wonderful, thank you. I've been wanting to make some of these forever. I love it.

[amy]

great tutorial. and i agree with thimbleanna...a great gift!

[nikko]

What a great idea!

[Michele C]

Nice job! I'm always looking for the right fabrics, though. Something that will actually soak up water and dry dishes but never find the nice sort of homespun weave one can find wiht a ready-made towel. What do you use?

[Patsy]

What neat ideas! I've seen some of the crafts you were doing. You do beautiful work.

[melissa]

love the teatowel, and will be making some soon from this tutorial. I've linked to you from my blog, hope you don't mind.

[Lori Ann]

This is exactly what I've been looking for! Is there a certain fabric best for absorbing water (drying dishes)?

[Lori Ann]

This is featured on my post, Top 10 Craft Tutorials.

see: http://www.simplemakes.com/2008/09/top-10-craft-tutorials.html

[myrnie]

I clicked over from Whip Up. This is fabulous!

[Sarah]

I'm so glad I found this! I've been wanting to make some of these for a while!

[Jeannie]

Now I know what to do to accompany my potholders ah la Penny....even though we live a good 2 hours from the nearest fabric store..........sigh! Oh how I miss my stache from Colorado
Jeannie

[susaninfrance]

what kind of foot is on your machine in the pictures? I make lots of tea towels and I could use that kind of foot!

[Melissa]

Oh, I want to make these, it looks really easy! I just need some fabric.

[Katz]

I've made several tea towels with this method and using home dec fabric.

I pre-washed the fabric and didn't give it another thought only to find that when finished, they did not absorb water. I'm going to give them a few more washings. A tea towel that won't absorb water isn't much good.......except they are pretty.

[Penny]

Hi Katz,
I've left you an email and edited the tea towel post with this same info:
-make sure your home dec is 100%cotton
-buy only home dec without stain-guard
-prewash
-don't use any fabric softner, this repells water

[melonie]

thanks love the twill to hang it up with....will be repurposing a beautiful vintage tablecloth into tea towels..and a lined bread basket!

[Sara]

Nice! Is that a special foot you're using to stay as close as possible to the inside edge? The foot looks a little different...wondering if I have one with my machine?

[מתנות מקוריות]

Wonderful post shared by you. I like your way to represent the post. It's give all knowledge and tips.

[Sue]

I love your pattern for tea towels! I have been using your pattern for a few years making tea towels for teacher gifts. This year I added two ruffles on the bottom. Thank you so much for a wonderful tutorial. I wish I could post a pic of them so you could see how awesome they turned out!

[Thismummaslife.wordpress.com]

Just wanted to let you know that I just completed this project using your tutorial. I am a beginning sewer and I found it so easy to follow. Thanks so much for sharing! I will be giving sets of these as Christmas gifts this year. :)

[خياطة وتفصيل]

Great work Thank you Sagrb that in the near

[Ada]

I've come back to this tutorial so many times in the last two years since I found it that I feel like such a heel never having commented. Thank you for a really great reference and tutorial!

[Janet]

I love this tutorial. Found you on all free crochet.com I love your stuff. I have never made a tea towel before but now I'm going to try it. One of my sisters loves tea towels and I would love to make some for her. Glad to have found your site