Tuesday, July 1, 2014

3 Easy Ways to Decorate Kitchen Towels


I had this idea to add some crafty fun to these plain dish towels I picked up for cheap. You know that point when your very used and tired dish towels finally throw in the towel…  (cheesy or not pun intended!)
So I picked up some inexpensive dish towels and came up with a few ideas.

The terry towels came from Walmart for around $1.50 each. The white towels are flour sack towels, also found at Walmart, and come in packs of 5 for $5.


1. The Easy No Sew Stamped Dish Towel- This one was by far the easiest and fasted project of the three. I was quite impressed with how good the flour sack towels turned out. I use fabric paint to stamp on the pattern. My stamps consisted of a toilet paper roll and a mini cookie cutter. Here is what I started with…




I didn't end up using the bottle cap that is pictured, but other then that this was really all I needed for this fun towel!

Before stamping the towel, I prewashed and ironed the dish clothes. The pictures have some folded marks which were from folding the towels after I ironed them.

I simply spread out some teal and silver fabric paint on a paper plate. Although, I wasn't going for a shinny look the metallic silver fabric paint was all I had. Usually I will try to make what I have on hand work and this time it worked out great! The metallic paint really didn't even look metallic-y when it was dry.
Next, I pressed the toilet paper roll into the paint. I made sure it was lightly coated since I was trying to avoid globs of fabric paint.
Starting at the bottom right corner I started a row of silver circles. Then worked my way across and up the dish cloth alternating silver and teal paint.


This was unbelievably easy and fast! If you only have 15-20 minutes, you can do this!







Since they were so stinkin' fast and easy, I made another one with a flower cookie cutter. After all, I have FIVE flour sack towels! ha
This one only got 2 rows of teal flowers at one end of the towel.


Isn't that easy?!



The next two towels required the sewing machine. So as far as difficulty, they were slightly harder. Still easy if you are good with sewing straight lines…


2. The Easy Fabric Scrap Dish Towel- Okay my cute "teaspoon of giggles" fabric wasn't a scrap…but a $1 bandana from Hobby Lobby! Nearly the same.

First, I cut out a strip of fabric and lined it up to show the cute sayings the way I thought was most appealing to the eye.


Then I pinned and hemmed the edges. Next I pined the hemmed piece on the terry towel and sewed it on. And that was it! Easy!




I love how fun and bright this towel turned out! Helps make my small kitchen a bit more cheery!


3. The Easy Ruffle Dish Towel- This was the more challenging of the three as far as time consuming. As an after thought, I could have ruffled ribbon and cut out a lot of the work. I may try that the next ruffle project I do. This towel turned out adorable and I am glad I went the fabric ruffle route this time!


I first started by cutting out 3 1/2 inch strips of fabric 10 inches longer then my dish towel was.




Next, I folded them in half with the printed side facing each other and sewed down the edge. Then I turned them right side out and ironed them.

Setting my sewing machine to a loose stitch I sewed down the middle of each strip of fabric. I didn't back stitch since the intention is to use the thread to ruffle the fabric. To make the ruffle I gently pulled one thread to bunch up the fabric.
(Your not seeing things, the last picture is a white ruffle! Same step, just a different ruffle.)


Next, I pinned the ruffles on the towel and sewed them on. If I had a walking foot I probably would have used it here. Instead I just set the machine on a loose stitch and held the foot up for a lot of the sewing. I didn't want to lose the ruffle while sewing them on. It probably wasn't the prettiest, but worked…just don't turn the towel over or you'll see the uneven stitches! ha



Plain teal dish towel turned super cute with ruffles!








There are the 3 easy ways to make some adorable dish towels no matter your craftiness level!








Have you embellished anything lately? I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment and a link and I will come check it out.


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