“Let’s Eat” Dishtowel

So I kind of have a thing with having cute dishtowels.

I admit it. I’m a dishtowel snob.

I will even confess to buying Anthro dishtowels on occasion. Clearance of course – but still.

And when I started using my cute dishtowels, I would get a little freaky about them being used.
“No. You totally canNOT dry your hands on that cute towel. Drip dry. Drip. Dry.”

But now? Pshhh. I’m good with it. Use it. That’s what it’s there for.
And – I can always make more right? Cause I need an excuse to do that.

Like this one.

Today we’re making a fun “Let’s Eat” Dishtowel – all decorated with a appliqued place setting, and a sweet ruffle of course!

If you haven’t checked out the matching Apron, click here – and the coordinating potholder tutorial will be coming soon!

So let’s get started on the Dish towel!

You’ll need:

1 purchased dishtowel (or you can make your own)
Fabric for appliques and ruffles
Moonstitch Ribbon for trim
Wonder Under fusible webbing
Pattern Pieces

Start by cutting out all your pattern pieces. You’ll need the pieces for the background shape, the cute wonky silverware, plate and napkin, plus you’ll need a rectangle for the ruffle 3″ by two times the width of your dishtowel.
Before you cut out the plate and silverware, Iron your fabric onto the Wonder Under, then cut out the shapes.

Peel the paper backing off of the plate, knife and fork. Iron them to the background shape piece. Leave room for the napkin and fork on the left side.

Sew around the applique pieces with a thin zig zag stitch.

Hem the bottom edge of the napkin piece. It’s a little hard to hem those points. You might need to make a slit in the corner to be able to fold the fabric under to hem.
Fold under the top about 1/2″ and then fold the sides in, to make the napkin shape.

Iron the fork piece to the napkin, checking your placement with the other pieces to make sure everything lines up nicely.

Sew the fork down with a zig zag stitch. You’ll leave the napkin piece loose.

Sew the background shape onto your dishtowel with a zig zag stitch also. Make sure you fold back the napkin so you don’t catch it in the stitching.

This next step is optional, because the zig zag stitch holds everything down just fine, but I wanted my pieces to “pop” a little more. So I sewed inside all of my zig zag stitching lines with a straight stitch in a little darker thread color.

Now we’re going to work on the ruffle. Hem the two short sides and the bottom of the ruffle. Sew a basting stitch along the top raw edge and pull up your threads so that the ruffle is the same width as your dish towel.

Sew the raw edge of the ruffle to the bottom of the dishtowel, right sides together. Press the ruffle down.

Add a row of your pretty moonstitch ribbon along the seam of the ruffle. I found it layed the best to sew two rows of stitching, at the top and bottom of the ribbon.

And that’s it! Now we have a sweet dish towel to match our new apron!

I hope you are liking the set!!

So now I need to know. What is your dishtowel philosophy?
Are you a cute-dishtowel-but-only-for-special-occasions person?
A why-have-something-cute-when-it’s-going-to-end-up-covered-in-grape-jelly sort of person?
Or maybe you’re like me?!
A let’s-go-for-it-every-day-and-just-make-lots-of-cute-dishtowels sort of gal!

Ok. Seriously. That was hyphen overload. Crazy.

Linking up awesomeness at Sunday Scoop, Today’s Creative Blog, Met Monday, Skip to my Lou, Quilt Story, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, Shabby Creek Cottage, and the other fabulous parties on the party page – make sure you check them out!

PS – This was originally posted over at The Ribbon Retreat Blog. They. Are. Awesome.