Earlier this week I mentioned I did some brainstorming on how I can make Mother’s Day still special for my mom during a time of social distancing. I came up with a couple of gift ideas that are fun to fill your extra time with making, look beautiful, and are easy and affordable to ship.
Today’s gift idea is a painted linen tea towel. This was such a fun project to work on! The design of yellow lemons and pink flowers have brightened my apartment this past week while hung up waiting to be gifted, I’m now wanting to gift myself one!
Because I have quite a large stash of linen fabric (found at the thrift store pre-social distancing, love a great bargain!), I chose to cut and hem a piece to make this tea towel. I don’t know why but it was so satisfying to sew this simple rectangle! If you’re short on time or simply want a quicker diy, you can purchase the tea towel premade. This tea towel or this one would be a perfect base for painting and embellishing.
Or if you’d like to sew one from scratch as well but are in need of fabric, you can find some here. I am not an expert in hemming nor sewing, so here is a tutorial I found on how to sew a perfect hem.
There are a couple of ways you can transfer the image onto the fabric. To follow the method I chose, begin by downloading and printing out this design.
Get the password below to download this design from the Craft and DIY Resource Library which you can login to here.
Next, place the printed paper into the layout you’d like, cut any edges that are overlapping, then lightly tape the layout down so that it stays put. Place the fabric over top and lightly tape it into position as well. Lastly, with a pencil carefully trace the design. Please note that this method only works if your fabric is light enough to see the design underneath.
Another method, not shown, is to download and print the design onto iron-on transfer paper and iron the design to the top of your fabric.
Lastly, if you have a Cricut you can download this SVG file in order to upload into Cricut Design Space and cut a stencil.
Once your design is transferred onto the fabric, use acrylic or fabric paint and have fun painting in the design! Be sure to have paper or a dropcloth underneath as the paint can leak through.
I made a small tassel to add a bit of extra embellishment to the tea towel. I’m planning on this weekend making a second tea towel that has tassels lining the width of the bottom edge, I’ll post an update if I do!
I’m excited to send this off to my mom next week! I love that this tea towel has an Anthropologie vibe to it but also, made with love!
xo Laura
