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Yarn Break – Easy DIY Tea Towels

How to Make Tea Towel

Hi friends! If you are a reader of my little blog, you may have noticed that I didn’t post last week.  It was the first time since I started blogging that I missed a week…..my OCD side didn’t like it one bit.  BUT, I am thinking with summer in full swing, my posts may be intermittent as I try to soak up some good quality outdoor time with my family and friends.

Sooooo, the reason I missed last week’s post was due to the fact we bought a new little pop-up camper trailer to use this summer. It’s new to us, but not NEW-NEW, so I have been madly cleaning and sewing to spruce it up. While my obsession is yarn, I still like artsy things, and every now and then post other tutorials and inspirations that I get in my everyday life. This is one of those posts. Here goes…..

In being a crazed sewing lady for the last week ( new upholstery, curtains, valances for my little camper ), I thought it would be fitting to post some easiest ever tea towels.  These are perfect for a beginner, or someone who just wants to get comfortable with their sewing machine.  These towels can be customized for any space or theme that you want in your kitchen. They are also perfect for a housewarming, or thank you gift.

You will need:

Fabric of choice

Fabric Scissors

Flour Sack / Tea Towels ( You can find these usually in sets at many of the big box stores. Wal- Mart, Target, Sam’s Club, or Amazon even)

Thread

Sewing machine

Pins

How to sew customized tea towels:

**This “pattern” is completely customizable. Don’t be afraid to change it up to suit your personal tastes!

  • Wash, and dry your flour sack and fabric.  I do this to make sure they have pre-shrunk and won’t get bunched up later when I wash them once they’ve been sewn.

  • Iron your flour sack and fabric.

DIY Tea Towels 2

  • Using your fabric of choice, cut a strip with your pinking shears 5 inches wide.  You can make sure to cut straight by marking your fabric at the 5 inch mark, and using a yard stick to draw straight lines across.

DIY Tea Towels 3

  • Flour sacks come in several sizes so you want to make sure that you cut your fabric the width of your flour sack.  If anything, cut it a bit longer to give you some slack. Better to have it too long, and cut it later than have it too short.

  • Lay your fabric anywhere that you would like it on the flour sack.  Make sure it is straight across by measuring from the bottom of the towel to the fabric.

  • Pin along the top and bottom of the fabric to hold it in place.

DIY Tea Towel 1

  • With your sewing machine set on the zig zag stitch, begin sewing 1/2 inch down along the top of the fabric. (You do not have to use the zig zag stitch, but it is my preference when I make these tea towels). You will sew across the top, and then around the entire piece of fabric around the border.

DIY Tea Towels 4

There you have it!

How to Make Tea Towel

You can make these with a holiday theme, color theme or any style that you would like.  Hope you enjoyed them!

Here’s another easy sewing project that I posted a while back for burlap, leather coasters. 🙂 Find it HERE

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11 Comments

  1. That’s a nice simple project to make. I’ve done a similar project using cutout shapes like teapots and rabbits. I think lots of folks are taking blogging breaks now the lovely summer weather is here. Enjoy your camper.

    1. Thanks Linda! I love the idea of cutting out teacups and rabbits. Too cute! I checked out your blog and love your crafty projects. Thanks for swinging by!

  2. what fabric do you recommend for the accent color. Growing up pinking shears were the go to keep avoid unraveling, but I tried this recently and it did not work so well.

    1. Hi! You can use any colors that you like, really. That is what’s fun about this project. Certain fabrics certainly seem to fray a bit easier than others. If you’re worried about it, you could always fold the fabric down a half inch on either side, iron, then sew to the towel.

  3. I’ve been making dressy tea towels forEVER, and have not tried this way yet. I even bought some of the flour-sack towels too, to try hand painting. Didn’t work so well, but I have tons of pretty fabric that would work great for this idea. Thanks so much for sharing it!

    1. Perfect! If you have pretty fabric and tea towels, this will be a breeze. Thanks for letting me know you like it! I have found with hand painting you have to use a screen printing paint for it to really work well.

  4. hello Jessica. I am just finding your blog via “all free sewing” and love these tea towels! I have a question though. What is a normal size for a tea towel? i bought some before from Smart & Final and they seemed so big. Maybe I should have washed them first before trying to sew on them? Any suggestions would be great. I know this post is from a year ago.

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