Stamped Tea Towels & 1, 2, 3 Sew

Today is a stop on the blog book tour for 1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills with 33 Simple Projects—Bags, Accessories, Home Accents, and More. I’m sure you all are familiar with the author, Ellen of  The Long Thread, and her her lovely, lovely blog. Well, Ellen has written a lovely, lovely book  filled with sewing projects that are designed to develop your sewing skills.

Ellen is actually here today to share a project with you based on one from the book…just to give you a small taste from the book. 😉 Enjoy! xoxo- jen

First off, thanks to Jen for being part of the 1, 2, 3 Sew blog tour!

The first project in the book is the Fruit Tea Towels (see image below). As simple as stamping and sewing a straight line, this project is a good introduction to sewing for beginners. In each chapter, there are three projects that allow you to build on the skills that you’ve learned with the previous project. Here in the Dining & Dishes chapter, you’ll make simple tea towels with folded corners, then a set of napkins with mitered corners, followed by a table runner incorporating mitered corners and divided pockets. Learn as you sew and create useful yet pretty projects.

We use a ton of tea towels around our house, preferring them to paper towels. I also think they make lovely gifts. Today I’ll show you a different version of the tea towels, made simply with fabric paint and stencil sponge brushes.

How-to: Stamped Tea Towels

Supplies (for 4 towels):

-one yard of white cotton fabric
-quilt batting or felt (18″ x 22″)
-foam stencil brushes
-fabric paint in your choice of colors
-water
-cups
-fabric scrap for practicing

1. Pre-wash and dry the fabric. Cut it into four 18″ x 22″ pieces. Lay one piece of fabric on top of the quilt batting (this will serve to soak up any excess paint).

2. Mix the fabric paint with a bit of water until it has a watery consistency.

3. Dip the foam brush into the water/paint mixture and practice stamping on a scrap piece of fabric. Then simply press onto the fabric in a random configuration, bleeding the edges together in some areas.

4. Once you have completed your design, allow the fabric to dry for several hours.

5. Then hem the edges according to the folded corner instructions found HERE.

Be sure to visit my blog, The Long Thread for more tutorials. And 1, 2, 3 Sew is now available at your local bookstore, online or at the Chronicle Books. Thanks!

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the other projects from the book:

Plus the blog tour continues:

Monday, July 11 – CRAFT
Tuesday, July 12 – Sew, Mama, Sew & Oh My! Handmade Goodness
Wednesday, July 13 – Handmade Charlotte
Thursday, July 14 – Everything Etsy & Not Martha
Friday, July 15 – Modern Kiddo

Monday, July 18 – Crafty Pod
Tuesday, July 19 – Indie Fixx & Patterns by Figgy’s
Wednesday, July 20 – Papernstitch
Thursday, July 21 – House on Hill Road & Coquette
Friday, July 15 – Bolt Neighborhood & True Up