I really like giving handmade gifts and actually have a few things up my sleeve this year. Unfortunately, like many of you, friends and family actually read our blog. So, I can’t give away all my secrets.
So for this challenge, I decided to share a really quick and simple holiday gift that works well for lots of people. Friends, neighbors, coworkers, teachers … whoever is on your list.
Each year, I try to put together a small gift for my 8 coworkers. I typically plan our department holiday lunch, so I like to have a little something for each of them when they arrive. I don’t want to spend a fortune and I like it to be something practical but fun. I also need to be able to complete the gifts before the luncheon, along with all the other holiday things on my to-do list. So it can be a challenge. In the past, I’ve made hot/cold bags, soy candles and mason jar cookies.
This year, I decided to make semi-homemade dish towels. I work with all women and I figure that anyone can put a fun dishtowel to use.
This isn’t rocket science. I decided to go with a simple white bar towel as the base. They are $3.99 for 4 of them at Target. (Cheap – check.)
I decided to make two towels per person – one with a strip of fabric (or fabrics) and one with the first letter of the person’s last name. This was an excellent project to use all the fabric scraps I’ve accumulated.
For the strip of fabric – Iron the towels and the fabric you’ll use as embellishment. This is an awesome scrap-buster project. I used scraps from past projects in coordinating fabrics. If they were narrow, I just sewed two strips together.
Then, I flipped the fabric so the fabric and bar towel were right sides facing. The fabric was approximately 8 inches wide by 12 inches long, but this will depend on your towel. Then, I ironed down the sides as a hem to match up with the side seam of the dish towel. I eyeball this, because I am not a perfectionist. If you are, you can measure.
Sew the seam down the fabric and turn over and press. Sew around the entire piece of fabric, and bam. Pretty dishtowel. If you don’t have a strip that’s as wide as you’d like, sew a few strips together. That’s what I did on one of them.
The letter applique are equally simple. I drew the letter on Wonder Under and ironed to the fabric. (Remember that the fabric will be reversed. Plan accordingly. For the “C,” it didn’t matter.) You could print out a letter, word or drawing. Or you could use a Silhouette or Cricut. I just eyeballed it. My bubble letter skills are pretty impressive because I was a resident assistant in college. (Yeah. I know that explains a lot.)
Next, pull off the backing of the Wonder Under and iron your letter to the dishtowel. Sew around the letter and bam. Pretty dishtowel #2.
They really turned out cute, in my humble opinion. And the best part? I made four of them in about 25 minutes. So now I only have 12 to go for my semi-homemade gifts. Bing. Bang. And Boom.
If you are looking for other simple and fun gift ideas to make for Christmas, here are a few of my favorite past projects.
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These towels are so cute – and I have TONS of scraps that I could use to make these. Thanks for the inspiration!
Oooh, pinning this for the future… for myself. I love cute dish towels but I’m um, sort of really cheap when it comes to stuff like that. This way I can pretty up the cheapies!
I was playing around with the idea of doing embellished dish towels, but couldn’t find ones to my liking at the store I was at. I love how yours turned out! So fun.
Sarah
So many great ideas in your post. I really like the mittens 🙂
I love the towel idea! So cute, easy, and personal! I think I’m going to steal it and give handtowels as favors for my sister’s bridal shower in January… (hope you don’t mind!)
Very nice, Woodward! And so thoughtful. I really like the fabric choices you went with. I also like the fabric under the towels in the first couple photos. Is that your ironing board? I want.
… and here I haven’t even used the sewing machine hubs bought me last year, shame shame. I wish I were a coworker – I could really use those pretty little towels ;o)
Those turned out so cute! What a lovely co-worker you are! I really love the casserole carrier too! I may need to make one of those for myself, I mean my mom…
A-door-uh-ble!
These are so cute! If I could sew a straight line, I’d be making tons of these this year!
You’re a nicer co-worker than I am. But we knew that already. And you are right, everyone can use towels. Especially cute ones!!
Super cute…and I love the past gifts! The flat iron case is adorbs!
Personalized gifts are the best aren’t they? I’m liking the casserole cover also! I have to rekindle my relationship with my sewing machine…
What a great idea! It clears out some of your scrap stash too! Double win and completely adorable! I might have to make one of those casserole carries for my sister too.
You’re totally right, they came out adorable! I wish I were your coworker 🙂 This would make a great neighbor gift, too . . . I just might copy this idea. Thanks!