Sew a simple, hanging kitchen towel

I've shown a few of these towels in other posts on my blog, but as I got ready to make a couple of new ones recently, I realized that I'd never shown how easy it was to make them. 

All you need is a kitchen towel, a pot holder, and a large button.

I picked these up in the clearance section of our closest discount store, so they were very inexpensive.  You could even pick them up at the dollar store; my only caution is that although the printed ones are often cute, they are not usually made from very durable material.

Also, if you pick out a printed potholder, bend it in half to see what it will look like before you buy it.  Not all prints look good when folded in half.

Start by using a washable pencil to draw a line across the middle of the wrong side of your pot holder.

Then run a long, gathering stitch on either side of the middle of your towel.  I just used the fold line that was already there as my mid-line.  This is just one long piece of thread for both lines of stitching.

Pull the threads to gather your towel.

Lay the right side of the pot holder on the right side of the towel and pin in place.

I fold the hemmed edge of the towel under when I pin it.  I just think it looks nicer in the finished product.

Before stitching, flip it over to make sure the gathers were pinned fairly evenly.  The towel does like to slide away while you pin, so if you don't check it you may end up with a bunch of gathers on one side and not many on the other.

Then sew down the line you made on the pot holder.  Pulling the pins out slowly as you stitch will help ensure the gathers run under the presser foot evenly,

but I'll reach under the pot holder from time to time, just to make sure they do.

Once it's together, don't forget to pull out your gathering thread, then run a second line of stitching to reinforce the seam.  

The last step is to sew a large button on the pot holder, across from the loop.

There you go, all finished!

These are very quick and easy to make, and using towels and pot holders you pick up at the discount store or on clearance, they are also very inexpensive.  They would be great as a gift.  If you picked up an extra towel and wash cloth, you could have a matched set to give and it still wouldn't cost very much.

If you want to be super frugal, you could make two hanging towels by cutting the towel in half and sewing each half on it's own pot holder.  You'd just need to overcast the cut end of the towel, using a close zig-zag stitch after you've sewn it on the pot holder. The upside is that you would have two hanging towels, and though I've done that many times, I've gotten to where I prefer to use the whole towel when I make them.  That way, if one side gets too wet, you can turn it around and use the other side.  Since mine hang on the stove, the wet side will dry quickly if the oven is on.

I've linked this post with the Homestead Barn Hop.

I have also linked with the Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest.