Here's a quick little tutorial for a pretty little tea towel. I've wanted to share this for awhile but I really hesitated because I couldn't figure out what a tea towel is for. So after I did a little research I realized they are for a lot of things...you can use them to dry your dishes (linen is great for your glasses because it won't leave fuzz), or as a cute hand towel in your powder room, or as a pretty little place mat for your tea set if you're feeling fancy. Anyway, they're actually pretty versatile and make adorable gifts too. Here's the linen one I made with some cute pig ribbon (I got the linen here if you want to take a look).
Here are some quick and easy instructions. Cut one piece of fabric (this is a home dec weight twill) 25 x 18 inches (give or take, really), and two pieces 30 x 3 inches for the ruffles.
Hem the ruffle pieces on one long side (I just folded under about 1/4 inch twice) and sew to gathering stitches on the other side (at 1/4" and then between that stitch and the raw edge).
Pull your gathering stitches and pin in place on the 18" side. Sew in place and then press open making sure the seam allowance is pressed toward the tea towel. You can serge or zig zag to finish the seam if you want.
Then topstitch on the right side just above the ruffle. Make sure you stitch close enough to the seam so the seam allowance on the other side is secured down with your stitches.
Grab some ribbon, rick rack, or any cute trim and try to decide. I really like all of these but I kind of want something summery so I picked the citrus (I'm doing the pink birds soon because I really like those!). Cut a piece about 1/2 inch longer than the width of the towel (so 18.5 inches on this one) because I found out this ribbon really shrinks up when ironed and it became almost too short when I pressed it. So press your ribbon before securing it in place, just in case.
Then, this is the best part, rub some elmer's glue stick along the place where you're going to put your ribbon (I set mine 1" up from the edge of the ruffle). Work pretty quickly because this stuff dries in under 30 seconds.
So there it is. Just press the ribbon in place and then heat set the glue by quickly setting then lifting your iron along the ribbon.
Then sew along both edges of the ribbon (you can see where the ribbon shrank up a big but I decided not to let that bother me).
Fold the sides under twice and hem the edges. Give it another quick pressing and you're done! Now make a lot because they are so cute and will lift your spirits whenever you walk into the room and see them.
See?! I'm only showing you this much because the rest of the kitchen is messy. But the towel makes me happy.
Let me know if you try it! Keep on sewing and have a great weekend!
