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Sewing tutorial: Embellishing a tea towel

28.10.2017 by Sabine Schmidt

Nähanleitung: Geschirrtuch verschönern

Need a quick gift? I have just the thing for you! Decorating a tea towel is done in no time. And the prettied-up kitchen towels are simply charming!

How to easily decorate a tea towel

Do your own kitchen towels need a makeover too?

Of course, you can also use my tutorial to upcycle your tea towels!

The best part: You only need a little fabric - fabric scraps are fantastic for turning boring tea towels into real showpieces for the kitchen!

In my tutorial, I decorated the tea towel with piping - I think it gives the whole thing an extra touch of flair.

Here's how you can easily decorate a tea towel!

Materials needed (depending on the size of the tea towel)

  • 1 tea towel
  • 15 cm cotton fabric (in the width of the tea towel) - I think retro fabrics* is particularly beautiful for tea towels...
  • approx. 2.5 meters of cotton bias tape (I think Vichy bias tape* cool for the kitchen theme)
  • approx. 1 meter of piping*
  • Rotary cutter, patchwork ruler, scissors

Sewing tutorial: Decorating a tea towel

Decorating a tea towel
Decorating a tea towel
Decorating a tea towel

Happy simple sewing,

your Sabine

Links marked with * are affiliate links: If you make a purchase through them, we receive a small commission. The price remains the same for you.

Step-by-step instructions

Sewing instructions: Embellish a tea towel

With a fabric scrap, piping and bias binding, a plain tea towel becomes a real showpiece - quick to sew and a lovely gift.

  1. Step

    Sew a new hanging loop

    Cut off a piece of bias binding about 8 cm long and sew it together along the open long edges. This will later become the new hanging loop of the tea towel.

    Sew a new hanging loop
  2. Step

    Press the tea towel

    Grab the tea towel and press it.

    Press the tea towel
  3. Step

    Prepare the fabric strips

    Press the long sides of the cotton fabric strip under by one centimetre each. This will be the seam allowance.

    Prepare the fabric strips
  4. Step

    Sew on the piping

    Mark where you want to sew on the fabric strip. Sew the piping on there using the zipper foot.

    Sew on the piping
  5. Step

    Sew on the fabric strip

    Then place the pressed seam allowance against the bead of the piping and edgestitch the fabric in place with a straight stitch.

    Sew on the fabric strip
  6. Step

    Second long side and seam allowance

    Repeat this step on the second long side. Now cut away the seam allowances of the tea towel using a ruler and rotary cutter. This is necessary so that we can neatly bind the towel with bias binding in a moment.

    Second long side and seam allowance
  7. Step

    Bind with bias binding

    And then the whole towel is bound with bias binding. Catch the loop in the binding at the centre of the top edge.

    Bind with bias binding
  8. Step

    Done

    And your freshly spruced-up tea towel is done!

    Done

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About the author

Sabine

I come from Siegen-Wittgenstein, where I spent my childhood breaking in cows, jumping off haystacks and scraping a D- in needlework class.

Today, being creative feels like indescribable happiness to me – and it grows even more when I can share it with others. Since 2016 I have been celebrating my passion for sewing on this blog, and I love that sewing connects so many people.