Easy Sew Kitchen Towels DIY

I have a lot of scrap fabric.

It's one of the things I brought with me when I moved abroad after my marriage. 

And I am so glad that I did!

The other day while working in the kitchen I realized I needed more kitchen towels - cause there is no such thing as too many kitchen towels! But I was not willing to spend $8 on it. This led me to my fabric stash and I was happy to find some really pretty pieces that will go well in my kitchen :) 

Sewing kitchen towel is super easy! And they not only jazz up your kitchen but also make wonderful housewarming presents. So lets get sewing shall we? 

Begin by selecting your fabric. Press it to remove wrinkles before cutting it to 20" x 24"

Measure and mark 1/2" all around.

Fold over the raw edges at 1/2" mark and using a hot iron press your fold. This just makes sewing easy.

Sew the folded edges in place.

Next cut a 1"x7" piece of fabric for the loop (you can omit this part if you don't wish to hang your kitchen towel)

Fold it in half wrong sides together and press. 

Do a zig zag stitch along the folded raw edge.

Decide where you want the loop on your towel and then sew it in place.

Lastly, fold over the edges one more time and sew. When you come to the loop, simply press it on the other side away from the fabric with your finger and sew over it. 

And you are done!

Give yourself a good pat on the back - you've just made your first kitchen towel! 

xx

DIY fabric printing tutorial

I have been PRINTING!

I have been wanting to print fabric for some time. I briefly considered screen printing, but it seems complicated. Besides, I wanted something quick and simple.

Since I have plenty of stencils (and if you are interested, you can easily Make your own stencil), I decided to use those to create my fabric pieces.

SO today I will show you how to create your own fabric using stencil, fabric paints and fabric. With the help of this tutorial you can easily customize fabric for pillows, totes, napkins and so much more!

So let's begin!

You will need:

fabric paint
fabric medium
fabric
stencil
stencil brush/foam
masking tape 

draft paper/newspaper/to cover your work space

Begin by preparing your work area. Lay your fabric flat, right side up and tape the corners with your masking tape.

Mix a custom color to your liking. I used pastel green acrylic fabric paint and added fabric medium to it to reduce stiffness.

Next, tape your stencil where desired.

Begin stenciling.

Complete the first section.

Then move the stencil to the right and continue printing chevron pattern.

Repeat with the next row on top until you are done.

You can experiment with different colors to create fabulous chevron prints.

To get this look, stencil leaves in colors of your choice. I used yellow, orange and leaf green.

My printed pieces..don't they look lovely?

And..*drumroll please!*.. I turned the lovely grape green chevron fabric into an envelope clutch!

I am loving my new stash of hand printed fabric!

x

TIPS (things I learned along the way):

- draft paper/newspaper will stick to your fabric so once you are done stenciling a row/first section lift the stenciled fabric up and lay it back down again.
- adding fabric medium made the paint a bit watery so be careful with the quantity.

TUTORIAL: Paint your own totes

I am so happy to be sharing with you this project. I have been super busy with family, guests and other projects this past week. And when I found a cotton tote lying around in the house, plain and unused, I thought to myself: that's it. Time to bring my fabric paints out. 

So take out your fabric paints and get ready to customize and cute up some totes! They are perfect for filling library books.

Carrying groceries.

Or just a cute bag for on the go.

Let's get started. You will need:

1. Cotton tote or any blank tote
2. Fabric paints
3. Sponge brush
4. Masking tape
5. Ruler

Lay your tote flat on your work surface and place a foam sheet inside. If you don't have a foam sheet, you can use plastic or thick cardstock or anything that serves the purpose of preventing the paint from seeping through to the other side.

Next, mark your stripes along the side seams. Measure one inch and mark. Continue marking every one inch so that you have one inch wide stripes.

Then grab your masking tape and tape off the one inch stripes. You'll be filling the spaces between the tape with paint. Also mask off a one inch border all around.

Mix a custom color to your liking and use your sponge brush to paint the stripes. 

Wait a few minutes for the paint to dry then peel off the masking tape. Now cover the painted stripes with masking tape and fill the new spaces thus created in another color. Paint the straps in the same way. Allow the paint to dry then carefully remove all the tapes.

Remove foam. Turn the bag inside out and heat set the paint.

Try this: Hand-paint two hearts in pink and outline them using black fabric maker.

Allow the paint to dry then write your text inside. Paint two more hearts inside in contrasting color. Heat set the whole thing and you are good to go!

Go grab some totes from the market and personalize them!