DIY custom dishtowels

A few weeks ago, I was looking for some cute dishtowels to give to my friend, Andrea, as part of her birthday gift. I didn't really see any that I loved, so I thought I'd just make some myself! I thought they turned out so cute, I almost wanted to keep them for myself!

Here's how I made them:

Plain white dishtowels

Dinner napkins (or any fabric you like)

Scissors

Ribbon

Thread

Measuring tape

Pins

I started by cutting a dinner napkin to about 6" wide, and I made the length just a little longer than the dishtowel. The hemmed edges in the picture below were existing, but I ended up cutting them off before going any further.

I folded and pinned the edges of the napkin down while it was laying on top of the dishtowel, so that I could get the length to line up exactly with the hem of the dishtowel.

Once I had all the edges pinned, I ironed them, then flipped the napkin right side up, and pinned it to the dishtowel.

Then, just sew the napkin fabric onto the dishtowel.

For the pleated ribbon, cut your ribbon to double the length of your napkin fabric. Then, simply fold it into pleats, pinning every other one, to hold the pleats together.

Place the pleated ribbon in the center of the napkin fabric, and stitch right overtop of the pleats. I didn't even bother to pin the ribbon to the fabric, but it worked out perfectly fine! Just try to keep it centered as you go! Yes....I know, my pins were in the wrong way!

Done!

I only used one dinner napkin to make both of the dishtowels, so I gave the rest of the set to Andrea so she would have dishtowels and dinner napkins to match!

There are so many possibilities with these dishtowels! You could really go crazy with fabric and ribbon options! 

I have so many easy sewing projects to share with you soon! In fact, this is what my kitchen table looks like right now:

I hope you're all enjoying your Sunday evening! I'm going to NJ for a visit in a few days with Audrey and Lola! I'll try to get a post in here or there, but we'll be very busy visiting family and friends...so if it's quiet here for a few days, you'll know why! 

See you soon!