Domestic-Genius: Fall is here!

My favorite time of the year is here! I love October, November and December. Halloween, Thanksgiving/Harvest and Christmas. How awesome that my three favorite holidays are bunched together one after the other! But, these three months can also be the most hectic of the year. And I know that with the current economy some of us need to make our money go a long way. Well, I've got some ideas.

Last week I went to my storage to pull out a few things to put on Ebay. Before I decided to go to Interior Design school I had a "Boutique" business. I rented booths in several surrounding towns at Crafter's Guilds and made home decor items and also retailed others. I did this a few years and decided that working full-time, going to school full-time and doing the boutiques wasn't going to work. So full-time school and work it was. Two years later our economy changed and I had to stop going to school. Since then I've worked full-time and that's it. I really miss making stuff and creating.

So as I was in storage pulling stuff out and opened a tub of some of my boutique items. Well, they happened to be Halloween and Harvest. So I pulled out my other Halloween decorations and rushed home and put them up.

Among the "boutique" items I found, there were these cute decorative cotton towels. I put two up in my kitchen and they look cute. I thought I would put some pictures and directions up because these are really cost friendly. You only need about a 1/4 of a yard and you can get two out of that. And if your local fabric store has a sale you can really save some money. I just go to the quilting section or wherever the cotton fabric is. That's not to say you cant use a different fabric blend or type. But usually holiday fabric is cotton. We have a Joanns here so I go to their holiday section or the quilting section if I want something more solid.

I spoke of unfinished projects in an earlier post. Well, among the boutique items some of those decorative towels hadn't been finished. It's a simple project. If you don't sew much, do not fret. It's straight stitching. Directions follow below.

Here's one of the finished ones I had. I put it over a regular black kitchen
towel which I purchased at Target.

I chose fabric from the quilting section because I didn't
want something with Halloween designs on it.

Here are some other examples of fabric you can choose.
Some of those I'm going to make for Thanksgiving. You can also
choose fabric for any other holiday during the year or something
that goes with your current decor. Make it all year round or seasonal!

Project Supplies and Instructions:

Sewing machine

Iron (for pressing seams)

1/2 yard or 15" of fabric (there will be a little extra if you have 1/2 yd)

Thread to match color of fabric

Pins

Scissors

Measuring tape or yard stick

Start by cutting fabric to 21" by 15". Fabric comes 45" or 60" wide. Most are 45". When you lay the fabric down it will be doubled. The 22 1/2" wide part will be the long part of the towel. Cut a 15" wide piece then trim the rest to 21". (I sew 1/2" seams because it is just easier. But if you wish you can do 1/4" seams). Using the iron on steam feature fold in seam once and press on all sides. Then fold in seam once again so no raw edges show and press again. This will make it easier to sew and keep your seams even. At this point if your are using a lace type decoration you need to cut it the same width as the fabric. Now pin your seams with "lace" to keep them in place. I sew to opposing seams first (top and bottom or both side seams. This makes it a bit neater. Now you're ready to sew. Stitch all seams. trim any loose threads. After finishing stitching, fold towel in thirds and press. You are done!