Ruffle Towel. Project Needs & Notes

Transcription

1 Ruffle Towel Decorate the heart of your home with a delicious dish towel adorned in ruffled fabric! Bright patterns and gorgeous embroidery give this fun kitchen towel extra personality and pizzazz. Project Needs & Notes - 16" x 26" waffle weave or terrycloth dish towel - 1/2 yard print cotton fabric; two different prints, 1/4 yard each - Medium-weight (2.5 ounce) cutaway stabilizer - Lightweight water-soluble stabilizer (Sulky Solvy) for topping - Air-erase pen for marking The designs used in this tutorial include: M6586, Grapes and Baroque Flourish and G8211, Sweet Treats Wreath. This project was featured in the following: Dreaming of Christmas Lookbook Begin by embroidering the design onto the towel. A template is a printout of a design, and it's an excellent tool to plan where to stitch. Print a template of the design from your embroidery software. If you do not have embroidery software, Wilcom's TrueSizer is a free program to use. Arrange the template on the towel until you have it where you

2 want to stitch. In this example, the design is centered between the two sides. The bottom of the design is 4" up from the bottom of the towel to allow for the ruffled fabric. After you have the template where you'd like to stitch the design, mark the center point as well as the vertical and horizontal axis lines. Using an air-erase pen, mark the center point and the horizontal and vertical axis lines. Layer the towel with mediumweight cutaway stabilizer on the bottom, and lightweight watersoluble stabilizer (like Sulky Solvy) on top. The water-soluble stabilizer acts as a topping, and helps to keep the stitches from sinking down into the nap of the towel. Hoop all three together, lining up the marks on the towel with the marks on the hoop.

3 Attach the hoop to the machine and load the embroidery design. Move the hoop so the needle is right over the center point, and embroider the design. A size 11 or 75/11 embroidery needle works well when embroidering on towels. After embroidering, cut the excess stabilizer away from the back. Tear the water-soluble stabilizer away from the front of the towel. Any small remaining bits can be removed with tweezers or a wet paper towel. Next, prepare the ruffled fabric. Measure the width of the towel, then multiply by 2 and add 1" for seam allowances. The towel used in this example is 16", so I'll cut the fabric to 33" x 6". Fold the bottom edge over 1/2" to the wrong side and press. Fold the edge over another 1/2" to the wrong side and press. Sew a 1/4" seam along the entire

4 bottom edge of the fabric. Fold the short ends to the wrong side 1/4" and press. Fold another 1/4", press, and sew a 1/8" seam. To create the ruffle effect, sew a 1/4" seam along the entire top edge of the fabric. Sew back and forth at the start, but sew straight off the opposite edge at the end. Next, sew another seam 1/4" under the first seam all along the top edge of the fabric. Secure the start and leave the opposite end open as you did with the first seam. Separate the threads at the open ends. Hold the bobbin threads from each seam in one hand and bunch the fabric together along the seams with your other hand. Move the fabric down the seams ruffling as you go. Ruffle the fabric until it is the same width as the bottom of the towel (in this example, 16"). Tie off the bobbin threads and trim them. Next, create the second ruffle. Cut the fabric to the same dimensions as before: 33" x 6". Fold and press the bottom and sides as you did earlier.

5 Also, fold the top edge over 1/2" to the wrong side and press. Fold again 1/2" to the wrong side, and press. Sew a 1/4" seam along the entire folded top edge of the fabric. Sew a seam along the entire top edge of the fabric (as you did for the first layer) under the bottom edge of the fold. Sew another seam 1/4" under the first seam (as you did for the bottom layer) all along the entire top edge of the fabric. Separate the open ends of the seams and ruffle the fabric until the fabric is the same width as your towel. Lay the towel flat with the wrong side facing up. Fold the raw top edge of the bottom layer of ruffled fabric over 1/2" to the wrong side. Align the top edge of the fabric along the bottom edge of the towel. Pin in place and sew a 1/4" seam along the folded top edge of the fabric. Lay the towel flat with the right side facing up. Align the top layer fabric on top of the towel and the bottom layer fabric with the ruffle seams aligned with the bottom edge of the towel. Pin in place and sew a seam down the middle of the ruffle

6 seams. Gorgeous ruffled fabric adds a fun and flirty look to this colorful kitchen towel. Hang it in your home, or give as a hostess gift!

7 Change the towel color, ruffle fabric, and embroidery to match seasons, holidays, or varying kitchen decor. Here, a sweet Christmas wreath adds a tasty look to the ruffle towel. Questions or comments? Let us know! Send an to us; the address is stitch@emblibrary.com.