How to make cute tea towels

My sister-in-laws have just returned from New York.  One of the many things I received was a gorgeous tea towel from Anthropologie.  As I was needing to make a few handmade gifts for friends so I thought I'd make some tea towels with mine as inspiration.

What you will need:

• base fabric: either a linen or white cotton waffle material as I used. Cut your piece 50cm x 75cm
• some pretty floral contrasting fabrics
• you can add trims, ribbons
• embroidery floss
• erasable marking pen

Instead of using trims, I decided to make my own bias tape.

All edges will need to be finished off with a double hem but as I was adding bias tape I needed to only fold the ends over once.

Finish off both sides with a double hem

Your ends and sides should look like this

Cut your appliques pieces and place them into the fabric.  I have used a Stitch n Tear stabilizer behind the appliques. You may wish to also use a walking foot.

Once appliqued, remove stabilizer backing.

Using an erasable marker, mark out where you would like your embroidery to go.

Use a large needle and double your thread.