Hanging Tea Towel tutorial

Simple Hanging Tea Towel Tutorial
(Previously featured on the The Village Haberdashery blog)
By Amy Cavanagh

Materials

• 8" x 8.5" piece of linen fabric (or any fabric really - just be aware of pattern direction during assembly)
• 8" x 8.5" piece of iron-on interfacing
• One 2"piece of sew-in Velcro
• 1 waffle weave (or linen or thin cotton) tea towel 
• One AWESOME button (I used a ceramic button purchased at a craft fair many years ago and used embroidery floss to attach it)

Instructions
1.  Iron the interfacing onto the wrong side of your fabric.

2.  Crease fabric down the middle along the long side.

3.  Lay fabric flat and good side facing up.  Use a ruler and Hera marker (or chalk or some sort of marking device that can be removed), draw your 1/4" seam allowance along the long sides.  These will be used to help place the Velcro in the correct place.  See picture in Step 4 to see the scored lines.

4.  Now place your button on the right hand side 1.25" from the bottom and centred between the 1/4" line and the creased centre line.

5.  Place one part of the Velcro one inch from the top on the left side, centred between the 1/4" line and the crease in the middle.  Pin in place. 

6.  Place the other Velcro part 1.25" from the bottom on the left side and centred between the 1/4" line and the crease in the middle.  Pin in place.  Refer to the picture in Step 4.

7.  Sew both of your Velcro pieces on.

8.  Sew your button on.  I hand sewed mine on using embroidery floss because the button was ceramic.  Feel free to attach your button using your sewing machine.

Arrows show where I attached the two Velcro pieces and the button.

9.  Fold fabric in half along the crease in the middle so that the right sides are together.

10.  You will now sew two of the three open sides.  Please sew the long side and the short end where your button is.  Press.  Trim corners.

11.  Turn right side out and push the corners out and press again so this rectangle is flat, taking care to avoid the Velcro (it will melt!). (sorry this image is so blurry) 

12.  Take your tea towel and cut it down to 15" tall (or shorter if you prefer) so that three sides still have the original hem of the store-bought tea towel.

13.  Now we need to fold and manipulate the raw edge of the tea towel so it will insert into the fabric rectangle opening.  Here is a picture how I folded and creased mine but it all depends on the thickness of the towel and if you like uniform or irregular pleats or folds.

14.  Take the fabric rectangle and turn the raw edge inside about 1/4" to 1/2" and press.  Avoid the Velcro!

15.  Insert the folded towel top into the opening of the rectangle and pin in place.  Check the front and back to see that you are happy with the placement of the folds or pleats and how the towel hangs.  Adjust if necessary.

16.  Top stitch approximately 1/8" around the entire rectangle, locking the tea towel in place and giving a nice finish.  I did a double row of stitches where the tea towel is inserted into the fabric rectangle.

17.  Press and hang on the oven door or cupboard handle.  Step back and admire your work!