Embroider tea towel is such a nice project if you want to turn something ordinary from the kitchen into something personal. A plain cotton tea towel with a row of small cross-stitch motifs suddenly becomes a cheerful gift, a detail for your own kitchen or a quiet evening project that you won't have to commit to for weeks.
A dark towel with a colorful cross stitch border. Close-up of the embroidered border. The vertical edge immediately gives the towel more color. Because a regular tea towel does not have countable holes, you usually work with waste canvas. That gives you a temporary grid, so that your cross stitches …
A small pattern, for example a kitchen motif DMC booklet small cross stitch patterns – Kitchen. A plain cotton tea towel. If you don't have one yet, check ours first textile base. DMC embroidery thread in colors that match your kitchen or gift idea. Waste canvas 14 count to create a temporary …
Work slowly and keep your stitches light. A tea towel must remain flexible after embroidery, so pulling it tight is not your best friend here.
Wash the tea towel first if you are afraid of shrinkage. Then smooth it out so that your washed canvas lies flat on the fabric. Especially with cotton, this saves a lot of hassle afterwards.
The bottom edge or a corner usually works best. You can of course do this in the middle of the drying area, but embroidery will wear and wrinkle more quickly there. First place your pattern loosely on the cloth and see if the proportions are correct.
Cut the waste canvas slightly larger than your pattern and baste it all around. For a wider motif, also place a few basting stitches through the center, so that the grid does not shift while you embroider.
Embroider your crosses through the canvas and tea towel. Don't pull your thread too tight, as this can cause the cotton fabric to wrinkle. Two threads of DMC splitting yarn is often a nice start, but always test on a leftover corner with thin tea towels.
First remove the basting stitches. Then wet the canvas with lukewarm water to soften the threads. Then pull them out of your embroidery one by one with tweezers. Let the tea towel dry flat and iron it on the back if necessary.
You can also embroider a tea towel without waste canvas, but then you usually work with surface embroidery stitches instead of cross stitch. Think of small flowers, twigs, letters or a simple line drawing. Then draw your design lightly on the fabric with a water-soluble marker and use a sharp embroi…
There are also tea towels with a woven cross-stitch band. This is a strip of Aida-like fabric in or along the tea towel, usually near the bottom edge. You can directly embroider cross stitch on that strip, without waste canvas. You then use the tape as a countable fabric and embroider your pattern e…
It is better to choose several small motifs than one very large area. A row of lemons, cups, herb pots, flowers, hearts or small letters remains airy and practical. Embroidering a tea towel is fun, but it should also be able to be used in the kitchen. Choose motifs with few loose details, so that th…
It is best to wash an embroidered tea towel gently and avoid the dryer if you want to keep the embroidery beautiful. Iron on the back side on a soft towel so that the stitches are not squashed. Do you work with red, dark blue or bright yarn? First test whether the color does not transfer. With a lit…
A dark towel with a colorful cross stitch border. Close-up of the embroidered border. The vertical edge immediately gives the towel more color. Because a regular tea towel does not have countable holes, you usually work with waste canvas. That gives you a temporary grid, so that your cross stitches …
A small pattern, for example a kitchen motif DMC booklet small cross stitch patterns – Kitchen. A plain cotton tea towel. If you don't have one yet, check ours first textile base. DMC embroidery thread in colors that match your kitchen or gift idea. Waste canvas 14 count to create a temporary …
Work slowly and keep your stitches light. A tea towel must remain flexible after embroidery, so pulling it tight is not your best friend here.
Wash the tea towel first if you are afraid of shrinkage. Then smooth it out so that your washed canvas lies flat on the fabric. Especially with cotton, this saves a lot of hassle afterwards.
The bottom edge or a corner usually works best. You can of course do this in the middle of the drying area, but embroidery will wear and wrinkle more quickly there. First place your pattern loosely on the cloth and see if the proportions are correct.
Cut the waste canvas slightly larger than your pattern and baste it all around. For a wider motif, also place a few basting stitches through the center, so that the grid does not shift while you embroider.
Embroider your crosses through the canvas and tea towel. Don't pull your thread too tight, as this can cause the cotton fabric to wrinkle. Two threads of DMC splitting yarn is often a nice start, but always test on a leftover corner with thin tea towels.