Molly's Sketchbook: Quick Dish Towels
I am a big believer in dish towels. I have tons of them in my kitchen and use them for drying all kinds of things from plates to my hands. They also work as trivets, pot holders, and napkins-- plus they eliminate the use of disposable paper towels, which is always a good thing.
The soft, absorbent Nani Iro woven solids are ideal for making dish towels. I love both of the the colors this unusual fabric comes in, chocolate brown and a lovely off-white, so I decided to make a set of four towels, two in each color. As an accent I added some very cute, yet very simple Trefle Twill Tape printed with brown and white squirrels. This little border gave me an opportunity to practice my edge stitching, a skill which I've always been a little iffy on!
I think these make a wonderful housewarming gift or wedding present. Their basic bold colors and overall usefulness make them perfect for just about anyone! Best of all the whole project takes about 2 hours from start to finish.
Just as a little aside, I make all of the projects for my "Sketchbook" in the kitchen of the apartment I share with my boyfriend. As I was making these dish towels he walked by and (totally unprompted) commented that he really liked them. It's hard to find handmade projects that work for either gender so it's nice to know these are "man approved."
If you'd like to make a set (and maybe learn how to edge stitch in the process) please visit my Quick Dish Towel Project Journal.
Oh, and the beautiful tea cups in the pictures are made by my friend Diana Fayt, a wonderful potter from San Francisco. Enjoy! --Molly
January 24, 2009 | Print | Email | Share | in Gifts, Home, Molly's Sketchbook, Nani Iro, Sewing | 28 Comments
Reader Comments (28)
I have to check out that absorbant fabric. I love dishtowels and to make my own would be really great! Thanks!
what a wonderful and inspiring things i see here.
the birds...i think i'm trying to make them. so lovely.
thank you !
I will be doing a post on Sun 24th about it and will include links both to this blog and the other one.
I have bookmarked your site also as it has a invaluable store of information, thanks for taking the time to share.
~Emily
Its on order but it comes from Japan so it could take a bit to get it. In the meantime, please feel free to give our shop a call to see if we have any in stock there: 212 420-8798 (m-f 12-7, sat and sun 12-6). If all else fails, please send us an email at the following link and we'll let you know when the squirrel tape is back in stock:
http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/contact
I would recommend using the red squirrels on the white fabric Molly used for these dishtowels, it is so soft and very absorbent. If you don't mind a slightly less fluffy fabric, I really love linen for drying dishes. I think the Robert Kaufman Essex which is a linen and cotton blend would be lovely, its got a very nice drape to it, you can find it here:
http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/fabricdetail/3539
Or, maybe consider the loose weave 100% linen we have from Globalweave, which you can find here:
http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/fabricdetail/4288
We're so sad they discontinued the brown squirrels!