Grandma's Kitchen Towels (Anthropologie Knock-Off)

Oh Anthropologie, how I love you - and how I detest paying full price for your products. I just can't bring myself to pay $60 for a shirt. I mean, I could buy 5 shirts from Target with that money; although, I always seem to get caught up in the black hole that is Target and end up walking out of the store spending way more than I intended to when I only planned on buying socks in the first place, so maybe it's a losing battle either way. Anyway, the only time I'm able to get anything from Anthropologie is by shopping their sales.....or by knocking them off! And who doesn't love a good Anthropologie knock off?

I found these adorable towels on Anthropologie awhile ago (they don't make them anymore) and fell in love with the gingham and bold floral print, and I knew I wanted to recreate them.

I think they came out just as cute as the Anthro version, don't you? And for a fraction of the cost. So want to make some too?
 
SUPPLIES: 1/2 yard main fabric, 1/4 yard accent fabric, scrap of fabric with a design to fussy cut for your applique, sewable interfacing, disappearing ink marker, embroidery needle and thread, iron and board, sewing machine and basic sewing supplies, sharpie marker or paint pen.

ONE: first, cut around the design you want for your applique. Follow the instructions on the back of your interfacing to attach it to the wrong side (or side without the print) of your applique. Then, carefully fussy cut (which means to target and cut out a specific motif, in my case the bunch of flowers) your design.
TWO: cut a square from your accent fabric several inches larger than what you want your final design to be. Iron your applique to the center of your accent fabric.
THREE: use your sewing machine to carefully sew around the edges of your applique. You could use a zig-zag stitch to encase all the edges, but I decided to just go with a straight stitch because I like the look of the slightly frayed edges.
FOUR: here is what your applique should look like so far!

FIVE: (not shown) iron sewable interfacing to the back of your accent fabric.  Next, draw a bracket shape onto card stock that you want for your applique. Center it on top of your applique.
SIX: use your disappearing ink marker to trace your bracket design onto your accent fabric, and cut around the lines you traced.
SEVEN: cut a rectangle of fabric 29 inches long and 22 inches wide. Iron your applique onto your main fabric where desired.
EIGHT: sew around the edges of your applique to attach it to the main fabric.

NINE: fold each edge 1/4 inch then iron, then fold up another 1/4 inch and iron. Sew all the way around to encase raw edges.

TEN: use fine tip and extra fine tip Sharpie markers to make rough lines around the edges of your applique.

Stitching The Edges:

For the bottom edges, we're going to do a little hand sewing, specifically using the blanket stitch.

ONE: thread some red embroidery floss onto your needle and knot the end. Push your needle up under the fold of one of your short edges on the wrong side (the side without the pattern) as shown in the picture above to hide the knot.

TWO: bring the needle up and out the front edge of your towel, right on top of your hem line.

THREE: push your needle down through your fabric 1/2 inch to the right of your first hole leaving a loose loop, then bring your needle around and up through your loop. Pull tight to secure your stitch. This is called a blanket stitch.

FOUR: continue making a blanket stitch in 1/2 inch intervals along the bottom of your towel and knot when you reach the end. Repeat along the other short side of your towel.

When you're done, you have a pretty gift for the foodie in your life (or for yourself)!

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