Thursday, January 5, 2012

Fancy Tea Towels: Sewing How To

I received a couple emails asking about where I got the Tea Towel in yesterday's Coffee Machine post, I didn't buy them, I made them . . .
For my birthday last year Lee picked out this AMAZING sewing machine for me. Since then I've been in a bit of a sewing frenzy!

For drying dishes and general kitchen cleaning I like to use bar mops . . . they're kind of a a cross between a bath towel and tea towel.
You can grab a pack of 6 from Walmart for $7!

Here's how I made them they were super simple and took about 3 minutes each.

First I washed and dried the bar mops and all of my scrap pieces so that they don't shrink in the wash later. Then I iron them all flat.

Next I determine how large the piece of fabric should be and then iron over the edges.

The I sew the fabric scrap to the bar mop, one line of stitches along the top, one along the bottom  and one down each side.

Where you position your accent fabric and how big to make your accent fabric is up to you, I like mine a couple of inches from the bottom and about 4 or 5 inches wide.

And there it is . . . 15 minutes later I have 5 very cute Bar Mops :)

They were so easy to make I hope you'll give it a try.

Total Cost:
Bar Mops         $7
Accent Fabric  $FREE
__________________
$7 .  .  .  .  that's $1.40 a towel

37 comments:

  1. Ooooh....bar mops...brilliant! I hate when you buy new tea towels and they just push the water around and never actually dry...I'm definately trying this, thanks for the idea!

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  2. Love this idea! I am ready to break my sewing machine back out now that I have a space for it.

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  3. Aw, those are so cute! I unfortunately do not have a sewing machine though. =(

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  4. Great idea. I have tons of these bar mops and love them. Make some cute ones to have out would be great.

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  5. I love this.....great idea! I think that I'll try this today.

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  6. Great idea! I love them, easy weekend project.

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  7. I need this!! All my kitchen towels look awful right now!!

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  8. by the way, strange thing... when I look at your blog on my smartphone, the banner shows all of your tabs (Home, About Me, FAQ's, House Tour, etc...) However, when I look at your blog on my computer it only shows the "Home" option centered at the bottom of your banner... just wanted to give you a heads up... not sure if it's a problem on your end or on mine!

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  9. So adorable!! I just got a sewing machine for Christmas so I am SO doing this!!!

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  10. Hi Ashli,

    I love this idea and will make them. However, I don't see your side stitches.

    Karen M.

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  11. Love these! I'll have to try these soon. Thanks for the easy tutorial.

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  12. I haven't made kitchen towels, but I love to do the same thing for burpies to give at baby gifts. Buy the trifold cloth baby diapers and use the same technique, also run a bit of ribbon across the top of the fabric to dress it up a bit.

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  13. I used the same towels but never though of how cute they could look.

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  14. Great idea! Thanks for the tutorial :)

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  15. They are so cute. I'll have to give them a try! Thanks for the details

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  16. Hello :)

    I stumbled upon your blog today and have gotten lost in it! Great posts and beautiful home!

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  17. Where can I get accent fabric? What is the general size of the fabric used in your photos?

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  18. Hi Jane,
    You can get accent fabric anywhere I just used leftover fabric I had lying around from other projects!
    I find quilting fabric works the best but you can use any fabric at all.
    The zig zag fabric came from Walmart and the rest of the fabric came from Jo-Ann fabrics.

    The general size I used in my photo's was 4 inches!!
    Hope that helps
    Ashli

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  19. I have been looking for a little sewing project to do with my scrap pieces. Cant wait to try this.

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  20. My cousins read your blog too, so I will have to remember to make up some sets of these for their next years xmas presents! I was thinking they would be good to keep on hand for quick gifts too, like when one's nephew gets married on the sly and no one knows til a week later!

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  21. I love it! I have an embroidery machine, so I'd monogram those babies too!

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  22. Those are so cute and I love that you used bar mops-those are my favorite! Thanks for the tute, I'll be spreading the word.

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  23. Awesome idea! I will have to try this. I live in B.C. too! We live in a new house in the burbs, basically it's lego land, but the house is lovely and we have mortgage helpers which is nice. I love your blog. I have it listed on my blog under "blogs I love to read". Cheers! Cath at Home is Where my Heart is. http://cathhasablog.blogspot.com/

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  25. Ohmygosh, I love this idea! Fancy dish towels that don't absorb are THE WORST.

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  26. these would make nice burp cloths too!

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  27. Hello!

    I was wondering if you could tell me when you found the over the door hanger for your dish towels to hang from? I NEED one asap!! Great post and I will definitely be getting together wish some girlfriends to make these!

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  28. HI Allison!
    The door hanger is from Bed Bath and Beyond! I've also seen them at Target in the bathroom section!!
    Sorry for my Late reply!
    Lots of Love
    Ashli

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  29. Great work Thank you Sagrb that in the near

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  30. You've been pinned and copied! Check out my version of your super simple and totally adorable towels:

    http://thediligentone.blogspot.com/2012/03/winter-pinterest-challenge.html

    Thanks for the inspiration!

    Emily

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  31. Love this idea! I am ready to break my sewing machine back out now that I have a space for it.

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  32. Easy and cute just like u said, thanks for the idea.

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