Holiday Tutorial Series...In Color Order

We had Pennie from Tuppence Hapenny Quilts scheduled, but do to a family situation, she wasn't able to get it together. We wish her well.

I decided to repost this darling tutorial from In Color Order from last years Holiday tutorial series...

Fabric Embellished Dish Towels

Hi, I'm Jeni! :) A big thank you to Heather and Megan for having me here today! I blog at In Color Order, about my sewing adventures, thrifting finds, and pet bunny George! I have been trying every holiday season to make as many gifts as I can, but my budget is still small! I picked up these plain dish towels on clearance last year and have been saving them for the right project! These embellished towels don't cost a lot of time or money but look awfully sweet!

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 Strip Towel

The Hexagon Towel

My towels are 18"x24", 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'sget started!

Materials
- Fabric scraps
- Plain dish towels
- Coordinating thread
- 1" paper piecing hexagons (I print my own here, just put 1" in hexagon size)
- Water soluble pen (optional)

Seam Allowances: 1/4"

For the Strip 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 Strip 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!