DIY | Tea Towel
I am so excited to show this tutorial! I made these tea towels from scratch and hand painted the drawings on them. It was so much fun to do!
I have been seeing a lot of new and fun tea towels over on Etsy, and just felt so inspired to make a series of my own!
The fabric is unbleached cotton from Ikea, just because it’s very simple and a bit vintage looking:) And I guess I came up with the drawings because I have been so inspired by all the other fabulous tea towels that I’ve seen lately.
Here’s how:
Supplies:
Piece of unbleached cotton (or any other fabric that you like), Pen and paper, Fabric markers, Iron.
– Cut the pieces of fabric in your desired size. And hem around the entire piece of fabric.
1. Draw or print out the shape that you want. ( silhouettes, will work best) Cut them out of the paper.
2. Place your stencil onto the fabric and trace the shapes.
3. Remove the stencil and color the shape in.
4. Iron over the painted fabric to secure the fabric paint.
All done!
72 Comments
Cool! I also want to make my own tea towels. I was thinking of making it with geometric stamp! Yours look gorgeous Lana! well done
Thank you! Let me know when you made your own designed towels! I’d love to see your interpretation of the tutorial! x
hi ~~~
i like your tea towel~~~
may i know which kind of paint you use ?
xinyu…
Hi! I used fabric markers, just the regular cheapest ones I could find ;)
these are adorable! you could totally sell them on etsy.
mackenzie
http://www.birdfriend.tumblr.com
Thank you! I have been thinking about starting an Etsy shop so your comment really means a lot!
These are so cute! Thanks fur the tutorial! Pinned and stumbled : )
Ashley
cherishedbliss.com
Thank you for sharing my tutorial! And your website looks really great!xx
Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanx! And your welcome ;)
they look awesome! very chic :)
Thank you!
This is so lovely! I am sharing it on my blog tomorrow :)
Thank you! And thank you for sharing it on your pretty blog!
These are so lovely, and would make lovely christmas gifts!! do you know if they are washable?
I washed them, and they still look great! But it definitely depends on your fabric markers. And don’t forget to iron over the print when you are finished, because that protects it from the washing machine.
These are so cute! Do you know where I could find those stencils you used?
Hi, I made the stencils myself :)
Hi. I was just wondering, does the marker wash out of the towel?
My markers don’t. I have washed them a couple of times now and they still look good. The marker didn’t wash out at all.
But I do think that it depends on the markers that you use, and you should definitely fixate it by ironing over the painting before you wash them.
If you want to be really sure, you can make a test painting on a small piece of fabric and wash it to see what happens.
Happy crafting!
Where do you get the hangers
Hi Patsy,
The hanger is actually a vintage one. But I am sure that you will be able to find similar ones on Etsy.com. I found this one: http://etsy.me/2eTRcMk by searching: “clothes hanger” in the Etsy search bar.
Cheers to your fine skills! :) The tea towels are fabulous. Keep sharing your talent.
Thank you! And I will ;)
Hi Lana, thanks for posting. Is the unbleached cotton available as a textile roll in ikea? Can you buy it per meter? I had a look on their catalogue online but can’t see it…Love your site and the tips, Ben
I am so sorry for the late response! Here in Holland you can buy it on a textile roll, so per meter.
Gorgeous! I just started making my own rubber stamps and I was looking for a project to use them on. This is perfect!
How great! Please let me know how they turn out!
Your tea towels are so pretty, just lovely. Thanks for posting your tutorial and I’ve got this linked to my tea towels post too today!
Thank you! And thank you for re-blogging it, your blog looks great!
Cute, these are so pretty! I just recently started using fabric markers and they are a dream to work with =)
Thank you! And I also love fabric markers, they are so easy to use!
A friend just designed a kitchen refresh for me that I’ll be starting in the Spring. One item she suggested was for new tea towels but the ones I found on Etsy were $35 each (I’m sure they’re well worth it). I’m going to try my hand at these.
I hope it’s okay that I pinned a picture(http://pinterest.com/pin/71142869085872821/). If not, my apologizes and I’ll remove it immediately.
Besos, Sarah
Zookeeper at Journeys of The Zoo
http://www.journeysofthezoo.com
Hi! How great that you are going make them! And it’s definitely ok to pin them :)
I’m going to make some kitchen towels myself & was wondering the size you used for yours.
They hang up so cute.
Did you use a vintage clothes hanger for them?
Hi,
Yes I used a vintage clothes hanger. And I think that the sizes are:
35×80 cm.
I’m wondering if Sharpies could be used for this?? I’m in love with Sharpies and have a million of them….what say you??
Hi, I actually never worked with sharpies before, so I can’t really help you in that urea. But maybe just try them on a small piece of fabric?
Good luck!x
love it!!! what kind of ink/color pen you use?
Thank you!!
I just used simple fabric markers
Cute as well! My towels are completely used up, so this will be another great summer project, thanx for the inspiration again!
pienkel.blogspot.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi! I’m curious if the cotton is absorbent? Thanks for sharing!
Hi! The cotton is absorbent, but it’s a very thin fabric. So it won’t absorb a lot :)
I read your post. That was amazing. Your thought processing is wonderful.
Thank you!
5
I love the look of your towels. Wonderful job and thank you!
Hi, I absolutely love these and I want to make some to give as christmas gifts, where did you find the design for the birds in the trees tea towel? Its beautiful!
Hi! It’s been a while since I made these, but I think I googled ‘birds’ and made my own versions of the ones that I found.
Hi Lana, thank you for the lovely idea. I’m thinking of following your instructions, but to make little personalised cushions instead to give as presents. I hope I can make something as pretty as your tree and bird design! – Maria
Hi Maria! Thank you for your comment! And what a great idea to make little cushions! xx
I think these are great! I’m not much of a crafter, but I think I might be able to do this… I was just wondering what the other side of the towel looks like? Does the pattern bleed through? Thanks! And awesome stuff :)
Hi! Yes, the pattern bleeds trough a little. So you do have a front and back. If you want to avoid this, you can cut the fabric twice and stitch a second one on the back to hide it.
I was wondering how you keep the stencil in place while your tracing? The tree with the birds looks intricate and delicate. I was wondering how you hold the pattern down to keep it from moving around? Very nice work and artistry. Thank you, Susan
I didn’t see before these type of tea towels it’s so beautiful. love to see these Tea towels and i have to purchase these designed tea towels. please prefer me for some one how sale that, i have a one who sale these type of products and with quality in UK.
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I love these! Do you know what the ikea name for this textile would be?
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That’s a lovely idea you had and the result is amazing!
I’ve read the comments and see that several people asked you about the markers. I’ve also seen that you live in the Netherlands. I do, too. And I would be very grateful if you said the brand of these fabric markers and if you can find them in a shop like Pipoos.
Best regards,
Albina
Hi Albina!
Thanks for the lovely words! I will continue this in English (even though we both speak Dutch) so other people might find the response helpful ;)
For projects that will need good quality markers I usually go to Pipoos and buy my fabric markers there. I live in Utrecht and I also sometimes buy art supplies at Swaak.
If I am working on a cheaper project, like a bachelorette shirt (which will only be worn once) I will use cheaper markers. You can find these at Action or Ikea.
I hope this helps!
xx Lana
Thank you so much for you reply!)))
I live in Dronten, Flevoland ;)
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Do you wash your fabric before using it? Lovely work!
Yes, I definitely recommend washing the fabric before you start the DIY, thanks for mentioning this!xx
Hi, your tea towels are cool. They look so good that you would think they had been screen-printed. Al.
Thank you!
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