7.13.2011

A cute little dish towel

In my efforts be cheap and a wanna-be hippie green, I've decided that paper towels are no longer welcome in my home. They're not cheap {especially since my husband thinks you need at least 3 any time you use them} and you throw them away after you use them once...not very green!

So I made a trip to Walmart and picked up two 5 packs of Flour Sack Towels. They look like this:
Via
What I didn't know is that they are huge. So I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to put on my crafty-pants and create not only some cute dish towels but also some napkins, 'cause ya know we're going to need to wipe our mouths too.

The master plan was to cut one towel in half to create 2 dish towels and one towel into quarters to create 4 napkins. Since I have 10 of these suckers that's a lot of towels and napkins! After washing & drying the towels I ironed them forever only to realize they will never be wrinkle free and maybe it would have been smarter to wait to wash them until after I'd trimmed them down. I finally got them all ironed, cut, and pinned so I could sew the raw edges from my trimming. And yes, I pin the bejesus out of stuff because I suck at sewing.

This one's a napkin :)
Now to make them cute! First you need some fun, colorful fabric. The ones I used came from AC Moore because the choices for fabric stores in Charleston are Hancock Fabrics (which has crap for a selection) or a small "quilt" shop that's a bit out of my price range.

I used one of the FQs to make a trim for the bottom 4ish inches of the towel.


I used the pieces from the charm pack to make letters for each day of the week. I printed out the letters in a font that I liked on my printer, cut them out with an exacto knife, then traced the letters onto the back side of the fabric {note: you have to trace the letter backwards so it will be correct on the right side of the fabric - yeah I did it wrong the first time!}If you're super cool and have a Silhouette or a Cricut obviously you can be super cool and use your fancy-schmancy machine to do the work for you.



I decided to attach the letters with Heat & Bond but someone who actually knows how to sew could probably sew them on lickity-split. This is where I had to scold myself again for my lack of forethought - a smart girl would have fused the Heat & Bond to the fabric then cut traced & cut out the letters but not me! Noooo, I have to do this crap the hard way! Anywho, after your all cut out and heat & bonded you can attach the letter to the towel (somewhat in the middle) by removing the paper and ironing on your ho-made applique.

Then you wonder when you're ever going to have the free time to finish the other 6 for the remaining days of the week...
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7 comments:

Jennifer said...

This is a great idea! I've been wanting to do away with paper towels and had the not so brilliant idea to knit some cotton towels. I say not so brilliant idea because it takes me forever to finish knitting projects, so it would probably take me a year to get 1 towel done.

Your idea is super cute and much quicker. Of course, I don't know how to sew, but that's on my list of things to learn. In the meantime, I'll get someone else to make them for me :)

BTW, found your blog through the SITS forum.

Stephanie in Suburbia said...

Your craftiness makes me feel useless. A friend of my neighbor makes awesome towel bibs. She uses a collar from a shirt and attaches it to a towel. I LOVE these b.c they clean so well and absorb better than a lot of bibs.

Kim said...

Adorable!! Let me know when you put them on the market!

New follower from SITS :)

Kim
http://memoirs0famama.blogspot.com/

Six Sisters said...

How cute! I need to make some of these! We would love for you to come share this at our "Strut Your Stuff Saturday" link party! http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/07/strut-your-stuff-saturday-week-2.html

Love,
The Sisters @ sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com

Chef in Training said...

this is so cute! I love it and can't wait to try to make me some too! I found your blog through a link party and LOVE it! I am your newest follower and would love it if you would check out my blog and follow me too! Thanks!
-Nikki
http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/

Julie Kay said...

Found you via Tatertots and Jello. What I love most about this post is it is exactly how all of my projects go! I never do anything the short, easy way either! Love your honesty and love the adorable dish cloths too. Thanks for sharing!

Camille said...

This is so cute! I love the fabric you used and the monogram you added. I am just realizing how plain all my dish cloths are now! I am thinking that I need to make some of these! Thanks for linking this up to our link party last week . . . we would love to have you stop by today and link up more of your great projects at Strut Your Stuff Saturday!
Camille @
SixSistersStuff.blogspot.com
PS I am your newest follower! :)

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