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Free Motion Tea Towels Embroidery Project

By Pat Williams on June 05, 2017

PROJECT DETAILS

SKILL LEVEL

Beginner

TIME REQUIRED

00:35

FINISHED SIZE

17 x 25 inches

Description

Free motion fruit designs in black and white with borders added at your sewing machine are perfect for today’s kitchens. Fun and quick to make these will make wonderful bridal shower and hostess gifts as well as big sellers in your craft fair booth.

Project Preview Video

Materials

5” x 7” embroidery hoop

Purchased 100% cotton flat finished tea towels used in the sample are “DII 100% Cotton Solid Flat Weave Dishtowel, 18 x 28" from Amazon”

1/8th yard of black and white checked quilting cotton (Will make two towels if using these towels, if using wider towels you will need ¼ yard.)

1/8th yard of black and white polka dot quilting cotton (Will make two towels if using these towels, if using wider towels you will need ¼ yard.)

Black embroidery thread and bobbin

Fibrous water soluble stabilizer such as Wet N’ Gone

Rotary cutter and mat

Seam ripper

Jean a ma jig ® optional

Designs used in this project

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF05

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF04

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF03

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF02

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF01

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF12

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF11

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF10

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF09

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF08

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF07

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/pat-williams/designs/1/FMF06

Final Product: What You Will Create

Step 1:

Finding all white tea towels without stripes down the side and with an appropriate finish for embroidery is the biggest challenge for this project. Therefore I listed the exact towel used in the materials list above. Dish towels are prone to shrinkage, so please wash your towels before you begin this project.

Step 2:

Fold the towel in half lengthwise and finger press the fold to mark the center of the towel. The towels have a hanging loop on the back of the top of the towel. Measure up 6” above the hem of the bottom of the towel and make a mark on the fold with a fabric marking pen to mark the center of the design.

Step 3:

Hoop the towel with one layer of water soluble stabilizer aligning the horizontal folded line with the marks at the top and bottom of the hoop and centering the dot you made with the side marks on the hoop.

Step 4:

Load a black bobbin into your machine as well as black thread in the top of your machine.

Step 5:

Align the needle with the center of design mark and stitch the design.

Step 6:

Turn the hoop over and trim off the tails of the tie in and tie off stitches but be sure not to cut off the knots they make.

Step 7:

Trim the stabilizer around the outer edges of the design. The towel will be washed after the project is completed to remove the rest of the stabilizer.

Step 8:

Lay the towel on your cutting mat. Trim off the original hem from the bottom of the towel. With a seam ripper unpick the stitches on each side hem for 4” to 5”.

Step 9:

Cut a 2 ¼ “x 22” (or a 2 ¼” x a strip that is about 4” longer than the bottom edge of your towel if you are using different towels); cut a 1 ¼” strip of fabric the same length for the flange.

Step 10:

Fold the flange strip in half lengthwise and press.

Step 11:

Align the raw edges of the flange with the border strip and stitch together with a ¼” seam allowance.

Step 12:

Press the seam towards the border fabric.

Step 13:

Open out the unpicked side hem edges; align the raw edge of the border fabric, right side down, on the back side of the towel and pin in place. Stitch the hem fabric to the towel with a ¼” seam allowance.

Step 14:

Press the seam allowance towards the hem.

Step 15:

Press the border to the front of the towel.

Step 16:

Edge stitch the border to the front of the towel about 1/8” below the flange.

Step 17:

Trim off excess border and flange fabric from the sides of the towel.

Step 18:

Refold the side hems on the original fold lines and pin in place.

Step 19:

The towel will be quite thick at the bottom where you want to start stitching the side hem back into place. Use a Jean a ma jig® or several layers of folded scrap fabric placed underneath the presser foot to make it easier to re-stitch the side hem on this side. Re-stitch the side seam a little way into the original seam and back stitch to secure. On the other side hem you will be stitching from the original side seam stitching down to the bottom of the towel so you won’t need the Jean a ma jig® for that side. Do back stitch at the beginning and ending of both of the side hems.

Step 20:

Re-wash the towels or just run them through the “Rinse and Spin” cycle of your washing machine to remove the rest of the stabilizer. You can see in this picture that the back of the towel looks almost as nice as the front. These light designs allow the towel to keep its original soft hand as well.

Step 21:

Press the seams and hems if desired and tri fold the towels to make great bridal and shower gifts or to sell in your craft fair.

For the love of embroidery…
Pat Williams

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Meet the Author: Pat Williams

Award winning Digitizer, Embroidery Educator, Author and a Consultant to the Industry, Pat Williams has 30 years of experience in the embroidery industry. Pat has won multiple awards for her digitizing expertise including the 2007 Impressions Awards Grand Championship, Best of Show as well as the 1st and 2nd Place Awards. Pat’s love of digitizing has afforded her the opportunity to write numerous articles for Impressions magazine in the United States and Images Magazine in Europe. In 2001 Pat was named “Embroidery Educator of the Year.” For many years Pat taught digitizing seminars at the ISS Shows in Long Beach, CA and for Compucon software. She now resides in Tucson, AZ.

Free Motion Tea Towels Embroidery Project

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Preview Video

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