Hand Embroidered Tea Towels
Designed by Carol Mesimer
Take a step back in time to when hand embroidery was on household linens in every room in the house.
Brighten up your kitchen with these cheerful tea towels. Use the designs to embroider a splash of color on an apron, dresser scarf or bed linens.
Gather these supplies
Tools
- Gold Eye Embroidery Needles – Art. No 235
- Scissors – Art. No 4940 or Art. No 493/CW
- Embroidery Hoop ( 4 3/4″) – Art. No 8813
- Water Erasable Marker (Thick) – Art. No 516
Materials
- 1 or more sets of tea towels
- Embroidery Floss (Colors used):
- Dark Red
- Bright Red
- Pink
- Yellow
- Light Blue
- Dark Blue
- Light Green
- Dark Green
Notes
- One skein of each was enough to do both sets of towels here, except for the dark green. You will need two skeins of that color.
- Often there is enough thread in a skein of variegated floss to use the shades in the skein independently. Open out the skein and cut and separate the colors. (In the samples here, the red in the bluebird towel was done that way).
Stitches
- Outline Stitch
- Chain Stitch
- Back Stitch
- Find printable stitch instructions here.
Bluebird Tea Towel
Design area 13” (33 cm) x 2.75” (7 cm)
Dancing Flowers Tea Towel
Design area 8.75” (22.5 cm) x 4.25” (11 cm)
Here’s How:
Gather your supplies, transfer the pattern to your fabric, and stitch your design!
A light box was used to layer the printed pattern and fabric. Tape both down with painter’s tape and trace the design with a Water Erasable Marker.
Note: If you don’t have a light box available you can Tape the printed pattern to a window, then tape your fabric over the pattern and trace. Best if done in the bright light of day.
Using a Water Erasable Marker, transfer design onto tea towel. Center the design 1” up from the hem of the towel. The design is close to the lower edge of the towel. Baste a strip of fabric across the lower edge. This allows an embroidery hoop to hold the work snug for embroidery.
Place fabric in hoop, with the lip of the hoop back facing up. This configuration holds the fabric snug, and keeps the fabric from coming loose. You want a fairly snug fabric for stitching. A loose fabric will allow the stitches be pulled tighter than the fabric, causing the fabric to pucker.
Cut embroidery floss 16-18 inches long. To separate strands, gently hold in place and pull each strand out individually. Two of the six strands are used for embroidery on this project. Pull strands out and place back together to thread into the embroidery needle.
Outline Stitch: If you look at the back of your fabric when doing outline stitch, you’ll see that the other side is a Back Stitch.
Chain Stitch: When you come to a sharp point, bring the thread to the back of your work at the point. Stitch the needle thru the back of the 2nd stitch from the end. Take your needle back to the front of the work where it came out at the point and continue stitching. This allows a sharp point, without having to knot off the thread.
When both sides of an embroidered piece may show, keep the back of the work as neat as possible. The tails of your thread should be worked under existing stitches to hold the thread in place and keep things tidy.
Work Back Stitch around the center of the flower.
Stitch threads back and forth across the flower center, then at 90 degrees, weaving them as you work.
To get the gradated colors without buying multiple colors of floss, one strand of a darker color can be added to one strand of a lighter color. To work a reverse image, flip your pattern over before transferring to your fabric.
Once all embroidery is complete, lay your work out on a terry cloth towel. Spray with water to remove wash out marks. Let air dry. Do not press work until you are sure all marks have been removed. If you feel the need to press embroidered work, lay it face down on a terry towel that has been folded several times. Mist with water and gently press smooth.
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