DIY

 

I’ve been tossing out a bunch of old stained or worn out linens. I was thinking about hitting some sales to pick up more dish towels then it struck me “hey, I make tea towels!, why don’t I just get into my fabric stash and whip up some towels for myself!” So far I’ve given all of the tea towels that I made away.  This would be a good method to find out how those towels hold up under regular use!

I had some red and white fabric left from Christmas which is perfect for a Valentine’s project! And that holiday is just around the corner! I found three pieces that didn’t have any snowflakes or other holiday themed objects on them.  I had one piece of the red and white striped material that was 35″ by 4″.  So that’s how I decided what size the color band for the bottom would be. 

I also had just enough of Kaufman Essex Linen Blend White to make three tea towels! 

I cut the tea towel fabric 17″ x 20″ then hemmed three sides (two long and one short) using the tutorial for clever corners from Sew4Home.com.  The towel was then 16″ x 19 1/2″ with one raw short edge.

I used heat ‘n bond lite on a couple of small pieces of fabric then used a heart shaped cookie cutter for the appliqué.  Just drew around it with a Mark-B-Gone pen.  The blue wipes right off with a damp towel.

After hemming the the tea towel fabric, it was 16″ wide. I’m using a ½” seam so I cut the color strips for the band at the bottom of the towel 1” wider than the towel–17”.

I cut:

2  strips of the candy stripe 17” x 4”

1  strip of the white and red polka dot 17” x 7”

Pin the two 4″ strips to the 7″ strip right sides together and sew with a 1/4 “ seam.

Press seams open.

Center the color band under the unfinished end of the towel fabric, right sides together. The band should be ½” wider on each side than the towel. 

Stitch, press seam down.  Press raw edge of color band under ½”

Fold color strip right sides together up to meet the seam on the towel.  The ½ “ pressed edge will be on that seam. 

It’s very important that the seams on the color band line up. You might be able to see in the above picture that I have pins on that seam. Sew ½“ seams along edges of the color band, making sure not to catch in the towel sides.

Clip corners.  Turn strip right side out and poke the corners out so they are nice and sharp.  Press.  

On the back of the towel, the pressed under edge should be right on the seam between the strip and the towel. 

Stitch 1/4″ away from that edge.  I did this from the right side of the towel because I wanted to make sure it looked good.

I did a “stitch in the ditch” on the middle seam  of the color band then some top stitching 1/4″ away on both sides of that seam and along the bottom. 

I centered the applique on the towel, 1″ from the color band and pressed it–follow the instructions that come with heat ‘n bond lite.

Then I did a little zigzag stitch around edges of the appliqué.

And I had enough of the two polka dot fabrics to finish a second towel.

 

 Now I have to decide how I’ll make the third towel.  Two heart towels are enough for me!

I’ve been planning to make a modern quilt since way back when I first got bit by the quilting obsession bug.  But I had too much going on–sewing and otherwise.

I don’t like unfinished projects.  I’m okay with two sewing projects going on at the same time.  One that’s hard and will take awhile to finish–like a quilt.  And an easy one–like tea towels.  But before I start anything new, one of those has to be completed.  So it was a while before I got to start on the modern quilt. 

But I was looking for inspiration and designing it in my head way back in September.

I love the Hopewell Quilts with their simple lines, large blocks of color, and striped binding.

 

I found this quilt on Pinterest.  Not a Hopewell Quilt but again, solid colors and straight-line quilting.

I decided to design my new quilt following the above style because I wanted to pull all of the colors out of my bedroom into one piece.  And there are a lot of colors in there.  Pinks, grays, blues, golds, browns.  Plus every piece of furniture is a different wood or metal.  I love it. It’s very homey and cozy and dark and full of things I love. And mine.  But I’m not ready to show it to you.  Maybe someday.

And here’s the finished quilt:

Since I was keeping this quilt and didn’t have to worry about screwing it up, I wanted to try some different methods. I used Mar Bella Minky Cuddle Plata from Fabric.com for the backing.  I love the softness of Minky but I’ve had issues with it before–it’s very slippery.  I was expecting it to be hard to work with but it was wonderful!  Easy to quilt, forgiving, and made the quilt extra cuddly.

Most of the dark fabric on the front of the quilt is Moda Bella Broadcloth that I also bought from Fabric.com.  The happier colors are from “American Made Brand” that I picked up at our local quilt shop, Tomorrows Treasures. 

I wanted the quilt to be “nap size”. It’s just too difficult to make a larger quilt with my sewing machine.  Maybe after I get more skilled I’ll be able to handle a bigger size. I made a rough draft and then used graph paper to get the correct dimensions. The finished size was 62 1/2″ by 50 1/2″ 

I really wanted black striped cut on the bias for the binding.  This appears to be a very popular choice for quilters but not readily available.  I eventually backordered the perfect black stripe designed by Timeless Treasures from Hawthorne Threads.  It arrived in just a few weeks.

I tried a different method to attach the binding but wasn’t pleased with it so will go back to the old way.

 

While I designed it for my bedroom…

it is so soft and comfortable, that it’s usually on the sofa.