My final homemade Christmas gift for 2011, were some dish towels I quickly “spruced” up for my in-laws as a hostess gift!

In trying to decide how best to decorate my plain, white dish towels, I must have looked at a zillion images for ideas (cause, really…I didn’t have anything better to do before Christmas!).  I finally decided on these super cute towels, but as this project kept getting bumped further and further down the To-Do List, I ultimately went with a “figure-it-out-as-I-go” approach! (For whatever reason, on Christmas Eve morning, I couldn’t be bothered with following directions!).

My instincts didn’t lead me astray, and I ended up with some pretty cute dish towels.  What all did I do? After choosing two coordinating Christmas fabrics among my 18 matching prints, I cut one 6″ X the width of the fabric (44″) strip from each fabric.  Then…

  1. I hemmed the strips by turning under the edge 1/4 inch and ironing, and then turning in another 3/4 inch and sewing.
  2. I then measured (and pinned) out every 2 inches for my pleats.
  3. I ironed my 2″ pleats down the whole strip, all in the same direction. I then machine basted the pleats.
  4.  Next, I centered my pleated panel on my dish towel and marked the outside edges. I hemmed the sides to the marked line in the same way as the bottom hem.
  5. Last, I attached my pleated panel to my dish towel by first basting the two together (right sides together) with my regular sewing machine.  So I wouldn’t have unfinished seams on the backside, I went back and finished the seam with my surger.  After pressing the seam from the front, I top-stiched the decorative panel so that it would lay flat!
After some pressing and the addition of a pretty bow and gift tag, I had a great hostess gift in under an hour!
See You Soon!
Megan