Love Those Hearts

Just love those guest towels! It's February & the heart guest towel makes its appearance here.  Just like clockwork! Best part about this guest towel is that it's totally FuN to make, if you have a sewing machine & enjoy sewing, like I do!  It's usually paired with my "Starry Night" guest towel (which reminds me of van Gogh).  I'm building up a collection.  And yes, definitely they are used!

They're easy to make!  To start, purchase good quality hand towels.  Then, either go to your stash pile or visit your fabric store & purchase some whimsical seasonal fabric.  Both items are purchased either on sale or using a coupon (of course)!

My heart towel was created using the decorative stitches on my Janome sewing machine.  I was learning how to use that feature.  To learn, one needs a project!  These decorative stitches are another option rather than use a piece of whimsical fabric!

***When & if using the decorative stitch design, use a much larger piece of fabric than needed.  After the design is stitched, then cut out the carefully measured strip to sew onto the hand towel.  A little more planning is needed here, but it's a great result! 

Follow my easy directions (click here) & before you know it your decorative hand towels will be ready!  It's a FuN project!

***I always wash & dry any fabric before sewing.  There is a shrinkage issue that does not occur when I take the extra time to wash/dry the fabric.  Yes, this does include the new hand towels.

Enjoy!
Happy Sewing!

Christmas Guest Towels

Who would guess that the new addition to my fabric scrap stash would come in handy so quickly?  It was the beginning of another quick and easy Christmas project.  The colorful fabric strips on my new bright Christmas Guest Towels is leftover fabric from my current project.  Two years ago I wanted Thanksgiving themed Guest Towels, but while searching in stores I never found any that suited my fancy.  So, I purchased colored towels and made them to order.  It worked so well!  The towels have endured many washings and remain a vibrant color.  While they were hanging in our bathroom this November it reminded me that another holiday was approaching and ideas started to flow - Christmas Guest Towels.

Thanksgiving Guest Towels

The chosen colors of the newly decorated hand towels go well with the fabric design and also with the colors in our bathroom.  A BIG + is that they were very simple to make.  After purchasing (via a good sale) 2 new towels I was ready to start. 

A strip of fabric was cut to fit into towel's recessed area near the bottom edge.  The strip is 2" longer than the towel's width.  That way I have an extra 1" on each side to play with when doing the finishing work and sewing. 

The height of the desired strip is measured 1/2" larger than needed,  so both the top and the bottom may be turned in 1/4" and pressed.  The raw edges on each side of the strip are turned in also, pressed and then turned in again and sewn in place. 

When sewing strip in place:  I like to wrap a very small portion of the colorful strip around the backside of the towel when attaching, so I allow for an extra 1/2" on each side.  Pin the strip onto the plain portion of the towel's front and sew in place.  Really easy!


Pinning strip in place.

These Guest Towels also make quick, small and festive Christmas gifts!  I am adding this post to my Threads with Taste Page (located below my header) above.
Enjoy!
Happy Sewing!