Week 8 – Decorative Trimmed Towel

Is it me or are these weeks flying by at an alarming rate!  It’s Week 8 of our 15 Christmas Makes and we have been overwelmed by the response to our endeavours!

This week we are making decorative trimmed towels which take a very small amount of fabric and trimmings but can transform a plain and ordinary towel into something very glamorous to hang over the bath rail.  These would also make lovely guest towels for the odd visitor or too!  Just remember that all the fabrics and trimmings you use need to be washable (40 degrees should be fine).  Don’t be tempted to put beads and bobbles on your towels – they won’t wash very well and may be uncomfortable to use!   Sorry but you will need a sewing machine for this little make.

We hope you enjoy making this quick little Christmas make which would be suitable for everyone.  Don’t forget the men on this one and make them their very own set of towels – there is no excuse then for them using yours!

It helps to have some idea of the colour towels that you are looking for before you go to buy but there are some really lovely colours out there at the moment and you can pick up a nice quality towel fairly cheaply.
Get all your fabrics and trimmings out and have a look what looks best with your colour towel and then let your imagination run riot!
All towels have some kind of decorative stitching along the edge of the towel which does make it easier to incorporate a pattern and keep all your lines straight.
Ribbon or lace adds a lovely finish to any decorative item so have a look around for some unusual and pretty trimmings.
I’ve used all the 4 lines on the edge of this towel as a guide and decided to put the fabric inbetween the middle row of ribbon.  I find the easiest thing to do is measure the length and width of fabric I need, mark it with a pin and press with an iron to the right size.  If you want to you can apply some bondaweb and iron the fabric on first but I tend to just pin it and then sew.
I sewed along either side of the ribbon with a co-ordinating colour.
I then sewed the ribbon on top of the fabric strip.
Voila.  Very pretty!
A nice guest towel perhaps…….
Or maybe a nice colourful towel for the kitchen…What could be nicer than giving a friend a bale of lovely towels decorated with some gorgeous fabrics that co-ordinate with her bathroom.So get that sewing machine out again….. We have some lovely fabrics at Rustic Angels that make great trimmings .