Linen Embroidered Dishtowels

Fiber & Textile Completed Projects
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I have come to really love doing needlework during this shutdown…it is something I can do quietly in the evening while watching crime mysteries (my favorite!). The problem is that I don’t want to do just hoops for decoration…I don’t have a ton of wall space and like to save my walls for the works of others whose stuff is much better than mine!

I decided to try to find projects that I could use and just add some embroidery or make something useful with an embroidered piece.

I have always loved linen dishtowels so I bought a bunch of different heavy weight linen fabric. I hemmed them and was going to embroider on them, and realized that I am not a neat embroiderer, so the backs would show and be very, very ugly. Instead, I embroidered on plain linen and then sewed the panels on the towels.

This is my cactus set…the patterns were free. I have three more sets to do but will be taking a bit of break to work on other things.

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They turned out great! Love your idea of embroidering on plain linen pieces to hide the untidy bits…brilliant :slight_smile:

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They are beyond beautiful. Truly.

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You’re right- it’s fun to use stitched pieces for something useful and not just for decoration. What a great solution! I really like the striped linen for the towels, and I love the cacti.

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They’re beautiful! I love the idea of striped fabric and plain borders, and the sand colour of the fabric matches the desert theme very well. And it’s a very clever way to hide the ugly back.

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So fun! Brilliant to add in a strip of fabric- I’ll have to remember that.

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These are so delicate and detailed. I love the dual hidden stitching / contrasting backgrounds idea!

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I love your idea of embroidering on linen then sewing to the towels! The contrast is pleasing to the eye, too! And, yay for cacti!

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Thanks, everyone!

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Beautiful. I love striped linen. And the band of cacti makes them so special.

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Can I come to your house to wash my hands, just so I can dry them? These are just lovely.

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sure–anytime! I love that they still hold the faint sent of hay/flax…some people hate it, but it is very comforting to me since I spent a lot of summers on farms…

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What a great idea! And I get what you mean about the messy backs-when I was little, as soon as I would finish a piece I would show my mom and she would flip it over. Made me very conscious about my backs

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They turned out beautifully and that was a clever way of hiding the backs. These would be show towels only at my house and anyone who used them would feel my wrath.

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They came out great.

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The bands look like they were meant to be there on the towels! Awesome stitching my dear.

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Beautiful! :blush: :cactus:

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I love everything about these. The linen strip was a good idea and you sewed them on so neatly.

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Wonderful plan and perfect execution! These towels look absolutely professional and perfect! I love them!!

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They came out great! Those little cacti are so sweet.