I wanted a quick easy, dish towel for February- a “keep it simple” project.  This little dish towel took me 20 minutes to make.  A few months ago I ran across this fabric at a quilt shop and bought enough for one towel, thinking to make a towel for Christmas.  But  that didn’t happen.  And luckily too, because I really need a dishtowel for Valentine’s.

The cool thing about this fabric is the edges are already finished.  It is designed for making dish towels.  If my memory serves, it is made by Moda.

Here’s how I made this little towel:

Start by finishing the edges of the top and bottom of the cloth.  First I made sure the edges were straight with a rotary cutter.  Turn and press 1/4″ along the bottom.  Turn and press 1/4″ again.  Repeat for the top seam.

Using a 1/4″ seam stitch along bottom and then top.  Now the towel is essentially done.  Unless you want to embellish it a bit.  Which I do.

Trace your pattern onto a piece of Wonder Under or your favorite fusible web.  I used a heart shape cookie cutter, but you can easily place a template under the fusible web and trace.

Place your piece of fusible web onto the back side of your fabric.  Press according to the directions.

Carefully cut out your heart.

Peel the paper from the back.

Center your heart on the towel.  I used a ruler to check my placement.  Press into place.

Using a decorative stitch, stitch into place.  I used a blanket stitch, but you could use a small tight zigzag, or you could stitch a blanket stitch by hand.

Now for some pom pom trim along the bottom.  Clip off the last pom pom on the end of the trim, to tuck around the end.  (I unpicked a few stitches so I could tuck it around and under my seam. Pin the trim along the bottom seam.  Stitch into place, making sure to tuck the end around and under your seam (trim off a pom pom at the end if needed.)  See below.

That was fast and easy.  And so cute for Valentine’s Day.  It has been so drab, gray and smoggy around here, I think I will be putting up Valentine’s decorations this week.

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