Fringed Edge Dishtowel Tutorial...(French dishtowels?)

Remember that vintage piece of cloth I purchased at the thrift store here for $4.00:
http://www.lacecrazy.blogspot.com/2013/05/treasure-hunting-roundup.html

Well, today it became cute, fringed, dishtowels... I had just enough for 2 dishtowels with a fringed ruffle...

And, remember that Irish linen tablecloth I got the other day at the thrift store here for $2.00:
http://www.lacecrazy.blogspot.com/2013/05/many-are-strange-chances-of-world.html

It was enough linen to make 4 cute dishtowels with a fringed ruffle...

I did 'coffee stain' the pink tablecloth the other day to soften the color. It went from a 'boring pink,' to a sort of italian tan...

And, I discovered something while coffee staining this beautiful piece of linen. I had stain on my cuticles and under my nails (real nails btw...) from the bathroom cabinet redo a week and a half ago. You can see the whole process of the cabinet redo here:
http://lacecrazy.blogspot.com/2013/05/cabinet-redo-distressed-and-antiqued.html

Ya, I'm one of them women that look like an auto-mechanic most the time only it's stain and paint under my nails, not grease.

Anywho...
As I was lifting the linen table cloth in and out of 4 strong pots of coffee in my kitchen sink, I pulled my hands out to wash them and my cuticles and nails were crystal clean and white. Hmmm... not sure where the stain went, but I seen no evidence of it on the linen. I think I made a new discovery~!

Yes, I'm smiling and going to try it next time I stain something,,,

So, to make these cute dishcloths click on read more, right below this sentence for the tutorial~!


I used a dishcloth out of the drawer to guage the size because I'm just way too lazy to care...
(In other words, I have no clue what size I started with, I just wing it usually...)

I left the selvage ends on the printed vintage cloth because it was just wide enough and I had barely enough to make 2 dishtowels and barely enough for a couple of simple ruffles.

I hemmed the top with a rolled hem...

And for the ruffle, I didn't quite have a wide enough piece, so I had to piece two strips together. Here's a little trick when you're putting two strips of material together. If you do it on a slant, it's not quite as noticeable as straight up and down.

So, you put your strips print side together like this and mark it like the pic...

Then, you sew along the marked line and trim leaving about 1/4"...

Iron the excess flat and turn it over and you have 2 strips pieced together. This little trick works great for quilt binding~!

I pinned the ruffle on and sewed it on...

I flipped it over and ironed it good and I didn't like the way it layed, so I sewed a seam on the printed side, right along the seam that holds the ruffle on...

Now it lays and hangs to my satisfaction~!

Then, I took a straight pin and used it to remove some of the horizontal fabric threads, to fringe the ruffled edge...

Cute, vintage, fringed, ruffled, dishtowels for the kitchen~!

The pinkish/tan dishtowels were a little more involved because I was working wtih really thick linen.

I hemmed about 1/2" seam around 3 sides and pinned the ruffle on the unseamed end.

To sew the ruffle on, I done this little 'roll' and I don't know how to explain it. I didn't want my ruffle seam to come undone, or shred, so I rolled the unseamed edge down, to the inside and sewed it down. I know, that makes no sense at all, but I'm a woman with vision, but never a plan~ and I'm horrible at giving instructions ~ Sorry...

I'm hoping the next pic will give you an idea of what the heck I'm talking about and can't explain... lol

I'm not sure if that made any sense at all, but that's what I did~ !

I already warned you... I just 'wing it' most the time...

This Irish linen was so thick that I actually ran a zigzag stitch along the front, along the ruffle to get it to lay and hang right.

I fringed the end with a pin the same way I did with the previous dishtowels...

I had enough of the pinkish/tan linen to make 4 dishtowels (2 sets)...

So, today I repurposed 2 pieces of cheap, thrift store linen into 6 fringed, ruffled, dishtowels for my kitchen.

Total cost = $6.00 ~ $1.00 a piece, plus a bit of thread and time...

(=

Give it a try, you won't be disappointed~!