Thursday, January 21

vintage tablecloth dishtowel....artful thursday #3 tutorial


last february at the art nest candice brought a lovely blue finch dishtowel from anthropologie to hang in the kitchen. it was so pretty and reminded me of the nest so i bought one, for $18.00.

every time one of the boys wiped up spilled oatmeal with it i cringed and considered threatening physical discomfort....
then i found this great vintage daisy tablecloth at a thrift store for $2.00 and i thought why not make a whole drawerful of little pom pom dishtowels!

here is the pile of stuff i gathered from my stash:
vintage daisy tablecloth, pom poms, ball of trim i took off another tablecloth, embroidery threads, bird image.


step 1. cut or tear your tablecloth so it measures 27 inches long by 22 inches wide. don't cut off the selvage edges or tablecloth hems, i just used what was already there and added to it. cut your rectangle around stains and holes.

step 2. copy a bird image onto a page of Avery t-shirt transfer paper then iron it onto a piece of fabric. i chose this this lovely sheer hankie as i liked how the daisies on the tablecloth showed through just a bit.


step 3. hem the edges of your dishtowel by ironing the edges under 1/4 inch, then roll that over and iron. stitch along the folds. i added a little seam binding loop as i was hemming the edges. less bulk than a tablecloth strip i thought. plus a great way to add some surprise color.


step 4. fold under the bottom edge and sew the pom pom trim on using two lines of stitching to secure.


step 5. fold your dishtowel like you will to hang it to figure out where you want to sew your bird image. pin in place.


step 6. use embroidery thread and sew little x's around the outside, french knots, and running stitches to outline the leaves.


won't these pretty glasses look great with my new dishtowel?

i will have to do a part 2 titled 'all from one tablecloth' as i have a feeling i will keep right on sewing with this great fabric. mama magpie posted on her blog today about making a beautiful laundry sorter with her old tablecloth.
i hope you dig out one of your vintage linens and make something happy this week, julie

32 comments:

Tina said...

Julie - this is beautiful...I too have 3 sets of grubby little hands to worry about but I think it would be much easier to make them myself...great idea. Thanks for hosting this great Thursday project...I love having something to look forward too...

xo
tina
prettypaperposies.blogspot.com

Jeanne said...

This is such a lovely dish towel. Great idea to re-use the thrift store tablecloth for this project.
xo
jeanne

Jennifer said...

I love this project. I am so into birds right now. I use them in a lot of my projects. Thanks for the wonderful idea.

tamdoll said...

Love the pom pom fringe and the embroidery stitches.

April said...

Sweet! I just saw those glasses at World Market-Love them!

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kana said...

Wonderful idea! Thanks for showing us how to recycle pretty old linens.

Parkside View said...

Wow! I would be just as concerned about the handmade dishtowels being used. They are gorgeous. I love your style!

Anonymous said...

So pretty Julie!-Lilia

Deb said...

Hi Julie - such a great idea! My daughter is planning a shopping trip to Anthropologie next weekend and one of the bird dishtowels was on my list of things to get for me. Now that I've seen yours (and I have an old tablecloth that has already been cut up to make an apron) I'm going to use the rest of the material and make a dishtowel :-) Yours turned out fabulous! I love the colours and pom pom trim makes it ♥ Found your blog recently through Jen @ the cottage nest and love it! Looking forward to stopping by again.

Pretty Things said...

I love the blue finch towel!!!! I'd cringe if it got used, too!

Ella said...

I love the color combos...I just
received the Pottery Barn catalog, lots of inspiration, similar colors.

I love your idea and will try it!
I have found a few table cloths that
would be great to use. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm really enjoying your Artful Thursdays!

Anonymous said...

Don't stop posting such themes. I like to read blogs like that. BTW add more pics :)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Ooh that is beautiful! I love the pom pom edge. Thanks so much for sharing this, I'll be linking.

candice Elton said...

Julie-- I am so happy I had the pleasure of seeing this in person. Love that you are blogging again, everything is so lovely.
Candice

Val said...

Just found your blog and am going to stay and vist for a while.
Love the towels.

paperbird said...

so funny Julie- I have those glasses and a sweet friend gave me that same fun dish towel- my husband caught mine on fire!
I loved your tutorial- such a fun thing to sew up on these cold wintery days.

*jean* said...

oo how wonderful!! i love this! you are the best! i think this would be a fabulous gift!

thanks!

*jean*

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

My friend and I were recently discussing about how we as human beings are so hooked onto electronics. Reading this post makes me think back to that debate we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.


I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as the price of memory decreases, the possibility of uploading our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I dream about almost every day.


(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16129580/does-the-r4-or-r4i-work-with-the-new-ds]R4[/url] DS OperaMod)

Anonymous said...

Easily I to but I think the brief should secure more info then it has.

Elisa said...

What a great idea! I love it. I also love those green tones.

Anonymous said...

I truly believe that we have reached the point where technology has become one with our world, and I am fairly confident when I say that we have passed the point of no return in our relationship with technology.

I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as memory gets cheaper, the possibility of downloading our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's one of the things I really wish I could encounter in my lifetime.

(Posted using KU2 for R4i Nintendo DS.)

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throw said...

The birdy inspirations are very beautiful and I love the blue ball tipped lace to make a sweet ending edge to the beautiful tablecloth.

gretchen said...

what a great idea! and seriously, who doesn't secretly love pom-pom fringe...

Anonymous said...

Splendidly done is better than well said.

Izabella said...

i love this towel... very beautiful its even better than the antropologie one :)

Jessica said...

I love all the colors. You're so talented! Prettiest table covers ever. The green is to die for :)

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