Several years ago when I was just married and had purchased our first house, I saw these beautiful towels and washcloths at a Dillard's in the mall of Abilene. Essentially, the towels were just decorated with a strip of accenting fabric and lace. The price tag for each one was well over $20. It was more than I was willing to spend.
So, I designed my own. With some scraps I had and a towel in my own linen closet, I made my first prototype. I have made these now for over 20 years as gifts, to extend my linens or to add some punch to a boring bathroom. Adding some accent fabric is a quick fix and will allow for multiple re-decoratings. My daughters are forever changing their minds about the bathroom decor.
Recently, I decided to try to extend the life of some washcloths that were beginning to fray on the edges. I had plenty of shabby chic fabric pieces, so I set out to make some old-fashioned and functional washcloths. The result was amazing. I decided to upcycle linens for my daughters for Christmas.
Gather the linens to upcycle. Lay them out and examine for frayed edges. Trim the tag and any frayed edge.
Next, layout the accent fabric on the selected linen. For a washcloth, I use the washcloth as the pattern and just cut out around it. For hand and bath towels, decide what pattern of strips to use.
For these hand towels, I used a smaller strip of the blue and a larger strip of the zebra print.
For towels: fold over the edges of the strips and pin flat.
For washcloths: pin the accent fabric to the washcloth. A zig-zag stitch will finish the edges.
Stitch.
For towels: use a straight stitch all the way around. Notice in the picture that the strips of fabric hang over the edge. That's ok. Stitch using the towel as the reference.
For washcloths: stitch once all the way around with a straight stitch. Then, go back over it with a zig-zag stitch.
Once the stitching is complete, remove all pins.
Use pinking shears to cut off the excess fabric. I cut right up to the edge of the stitch. Now is a good time to check that stitches did not fall off the edges and restitch for any gaps.
Carefully trim an extra hanging threads.
Once the product is laundered, you may need to trim again.
Notes: If you truly UPCYCLE, your linens will not be crisp and new looking. From my pictures, you can see the splatter of paints for when the washcloth had been used as a brush rag for some art project. I did not catch this when I initially sorted the linens.
Also, if you want more clean edges, you can spend some time folding over before pinning.
For washcloths, you can sew the two pieces together and leave a small gap. Then, turn inside itself. You would need to roll, pin, press and then stitch around the edge. This will make a very neat, clean edge. If you are planning on gifting, this might be your best option.
Here is the finished product. I made 3 bath and 2 hand towels and 4 washcloths for my daughter for Christmas.
To place an order: https://www.facebook.com/ShabbyRoundTheCorner
