Anthro-Inspired Valentine's Tea Towels

Have you seen the fabulous vintage-inspired applique tea towels in Anthropologie lately? I love them all and they remind me of the real ones that my Mom carried in her shop for so many years. I have been wanting to make some of my own, and when I recently participated in a Pay it Forward Handmade Craft Challenge on Facebook I knew just what to make.

A friend of mine had this as her status:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade
to the first 5 people who leave a comment here.
They must in turn post this and send something they make
to the first 5 people who comment on their status.
*The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it
must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

I love a challenge and I was intrigued by who might sign up with me so I went for it. I already knew that I was going to be working on some of these pins, but I also wanted to do something for Valentine's Day. I thought about the Anthroplogie tea towels and remembered that I had bought some tea towels at Target.


I was surprised when I opened them up that the towels were HUGE and far too big to be comfortably used as a tea towel, so I cut them in half and planned to bind the cut side later.

Next I needed to think about fabric. I went to my stash and found these two fun Valentine's Day appropriate prints:


Next I ironed some heat and bond to a large square of each piece of fabric, and then I drew up a template and began cutting out hearts.



I ironed the hearts to the tea towels and then I zig-zag stitch appliqued them to the towels. I finished them off with a little Fray Check to be sure they would make it through the wash.


I had a happy accident while I was sewing up the open side. I remembered seeing somewhere that I could zig-zag stitch up the side and the machine would sort of gather the material into what would eventually look as though I had used a Serger. It worked!


I am so happy with them!


Cute and sweet and handmade by me.


Stay tuned for tomorrow's Tell Me Tuesday--we had 30 entries this past week and if we hit 50 I will host a giveaway.

And MANY THANKS to the ladies at Three Sisterz for guest posting for me over the weekend. I had a nasty virus on my computer and was out of commission for a bit. Thank you ladies for keeping my little place in Blogland vibrant over the weekend!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Mad in Crafts Mad Skills Mondays
Making Monday's Marvelous at CRAFT