Have you ever had a hand towel in your kitchen – so you can wipe those grotty hands on a towel rather than on the teatowel?!?  Great idea hey.  Here I will show you how to edge towels and add a loop for hanging them.  These can also be used in the bathroom.

What you will need to do this project: a fabric cutting matt, a rotary cutter, a ruler, a fabric pen or pencil, pins, scissors, fabric, a hand towel (or towelling from a fabric shop), and a sewing machine. 

The towels are edged with home-made bias tape.  Why use the sad range of polycotton bias tape that you can buy out there (that balls up quickly and looks dreadful) when you can make your own out of any pretty or groovy fabric you like?  I found fabulous instructions by Shelley Rodgers here http://pir8.freeservers.com/quilting/CBT to make continuous bias tape.  Thankyou!  These instructions are very similar to the way my dear mother taught me how to make bias tape.

Step 1 

I made my bias tape super wide for effect.  I cut it out 2.5 inches (6cm) wide.  (After sewing it onto the towel it was super wide on the front and thinner on the back of the towel).

Step 2 

After making the bias tape, I simply sewed one edge of the tape onto the back side of the towel (right sides together for tape and towel) with a straight stitch. 

 Step 3

I then folded the other raw edge of the bias tape over slightly and ironed it flat.

Step 4

The next step is to fold the bias tape over the towel edge (and iron if you like) and sew into place as shown.

Step 5

To do the corners I simply cut the bias tape 1 inch longer than needed and folded it in and continued stitching.  In the finished project you can see how I just overlapped the fabric at the corners.

To make a loop to hang the towel onto a cupboard handle or hook you can use tape or ribbon of any sort.  I used some spare bias tape, folded it in half with the right sides together and sewed along the edge making it as wide as you like, then turned it inside out (right sides up), zigzag stitched the raw ends and sewed it onto the wrong side of the towel in the middle of the long edge of the towel at the very edge. 

And here you have 2 designer hand towels!

These towels were made as a gift to coordinate with a specific kitchen.  Imagine the amazing fabrics you could use to make some groovy towels to match your space  …  Go on, go ahead and make one.

Em xx

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Great as Presents, Sewing, Thrifty Girl, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.