Kitchen Towels

Making Kitchen Towels With Ties

I have a dear friend, Rosa, who cooks most of her meals.  She spends a lot of time in her kitchen.  She cooks the most delicious Italian foods, and luckily for me, she invites me to eat  when I go to visit her!

One day, she asked me to shorten up the ties on her aprons... on the section that goes over her head.   That was an easy fix.... I just sewed the strap together, shortening the top loop,  so that it just fit over my head.

She also asked me if I could make any towels that would tie to the door handle on her refrigerator.   

I looked online and found some good tutorials.  Luckily, I knew just where to look for a style that ties to the door handle of the stove.   At my sister's blog , Amy,  of Amy Made That! ,  she showed us how she made her beautiful Stay Put Kitchen Towels  . 

Amy's Stay Put Kitchen Towel

 I like this style for the oven door handle, but wanted to make  ties that would be very durable , so that the  whole towel would stand up  well with lots of washing.
  
After a lot of thinking, I decided to try making fabric ties, similar to the ties I make in the Bow Tucks Tote purses .   
Here is a short description of how to make  skinny fabric ties:

Simply,  cut fabric into 1 1/2  inches by WOF
 Press wrong sides together, lengthwise, so there is a center press line.  Unfold.
Fold in raw side edges  (the short sides) about 1/4 inch, and press.
Fold up raw edge(lower  half) to the center press line, press.
Fold  the other raw edge (upper half) down to the center press line , press.  (Both raw edges meet in the center now.)
Fold these 2 folded -edges together ( on top of each other) , press well and pin.  Sew close to this folded edge.
It is now 1/4 of it's original width, after folding.  And there are no raw edges!

I used the bow ties (in place of the ribbon) to tie the towel to the oven door handle

I used material that had black and white colors, to go in Rosa's kitchen.

 I looked aound further for more ideas on making a towel that would tie to a refrigerator door.  I found a great tutorial at Trey and Lucy.blogspot.com , by  Tanya, that I adapted a little to  meet my needs.

Tanya's:   from Trey and Lucy .blogspot.com   tie-on dish towels

I wanted fabric ties, but decided to make them narrower than Tanya's.  (She uses 9 inches wide.)  I made them like a bow tie, but began with a width of 4 inches of fabric, so that the final tie would be 1 inch wide.

I gathered my towel with a basting stitch, through the middle of the towel  

Then I made my fabric tie...   I stitched a top stitch all around the edges.  It is 1 inch wide.   I pinned the the tie on top of the gathered area. 

Pinned and ready to sew

I used the zig-zag stich, around each edge, and then through the center, for maximum strength

Zig-Zagging the fabric tie onto the gathered towel is the last step!

Tied onto my refrigerator door

It "works" on the oven door, too!

But I like it better on the refrigerator door handle!

 I'll see how Rosa likes these styles of tied kitchen towels, and  then make some more for her.  
Meanwhile, I will look around for some thicker towels, since this seems to work!  
This is an ideal  gift to make for bridal shower and wedding gifts!

Stay  safe and dry during the 'Frankenstorm ,'  friends!

I'm off to my sewing room!