Gifts: Tea Towels

Before Christmas, I promised I would post pictures of some of the gifts I made for family and friends but I had to wait until they had been opened. So here I am today, coming through on my promise :) First up is some tea towels that I made for my Mom.

I made two tea towels using a plain white flour sack towel from Target, a fabric marker, a doily, and a small bit of fabric. Here is the final product:

bird towels

For the first towel (with the yellow bird), I drew the flowers with a fabric pen. I saw these pictures on flickr and used them as a guide for me to view while I was drawing my flowers. Before I started, I practiced a bit (since I’m definitely NOT an artist!) and then I used my fabric pen to draw the flowers on the towel. When drawing on the towel, I found it easier to use a giant embroidery hoop to pull the fabric taunt. I also put something under it so if the pen bled through, it wouldn’t get on anything else. After I was finished drawing, I cut out a bird and sewed it on.
yellow bird towel
yellow bird

For this towel, I saw this post on Design*Sponge and loved the idea of using a doily as a stencil. I simply placed the doily on the towel (again, put something underneath the towel just in case the pen bleeds through) and using the fabric marker, color in the holes of the doily to create the pattern. Then, I cut out a shape of a few birds and sewed them to the front.
towel bird
towel bird up

More projects coming up soon!!! Did you make any handmade things for gifts this year? If so, I want to know what they were. I may want to try them myself!