Fabric Embellished Dish Towels Tutorial

Fabric Embellished Tea Towel Tutorial, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Today I have a fun and easy tutorial for you! I have been trying every holiday season to make as many gifts as I can, but my budget is still small. These embellished towels don't cost a lot of time or money but look awfully sweet!

This was originally published as a guest tutorial on Quilt Story.

Fabric Embellished Tea Towel Tutorial, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

This is a super quick, scrappy project, if you know the basics of using a sewing machine, you can make them! I'm showing you how to embellish towels three different ways, but the possibilities are endless! Here are the three we'll be making:

The Patchwork Towel


The Striped Towel


The Hexagon Towel


My towels are 18"x24", I purchased my dish towels at a discount store last year. (These look similar in size.) I added the fabric embellishment across the short edge. You can add or subtract patchwork or hexagons to accommodate your towels! If you're super ambitious you could make your own towels, linen ones would be especially lovely! The Purl Bee has a great Quick Dish Towel Tutorial! Now, let's get started!


Sewing Level: Intermediate


Materials:
- Fabric scraps
- Plain dish towels (similar to mine)
- Coordinating thread
- 1" paper piecing hexagons (Print your own here, or buy here)
- Water soluble pen (optional)

Seam Allowances: 1/4"

For the Striped Towel, Cut:
- (3) 1.5"x18.5" strips

For the Patchwork Towel, cut:
- (9) 2.5"x3.5" pieces

For the Hexagon Towel, cut:
- (11) 2.5" squares


1. Assemble your fabric into a strip.

For Patchwork: Sew together all 9 pieces into a long strip, along the 3.5" sides. Press.

For Strips: Sew together all 3 strips, along the long sides. Press.

For Hexagons: Create hexagons and stitch together in a long strip. For more on paper-piecing hexagons, I recommend this tutorial!


2. For Patchwork or Striped towels, turn under 1/4" on all four sides. My trick for making this easier, is to draw a line 1/2" from the edge with my water soluble pen, then fold the raw edge against that lines. Helps you get a straighter fold!

For Hexagons: Press your strip gently, then remove your basting threads and the papers. Press again.




3. Now it's time to pin your pieced fabrics to the bottom edge of the towel! Carefully topstitch around all the edges. For the hexagons especially, take advantage of the needle-down function on your machine so that you can pivot easily!


Voila, you're done! These would make a great holiday gift on their own or along with a cookbook or some cute spatulas/spoons!

Enjoy!