Dish Towel Modification

Have I mentioned we have a small house?  Well, we do, which includes having a small kitchen.  While our kitchen reno (still a bit in progress - haha) added some space, as in we tore down the wall between the small kitchen and small dining room.  With the reno we also managed to fit in a dishwasher - hallelujah!  The only issue was that the hooks my mom had attached to the their old frig, which we were incredibly lucky to inherit, were just a bit too low for our dish towels, causing them to catch in the dishwasher door.  If you hang them from the tag that is, and if you try to hang them via the halfway point, they always fall off.  Boo.

Well, this past weekend, I was suddenly struck with an easy, quick solution.

I should use some kind of ribbon at the halfway point on the long side to make a permanent hanging loop, from which the dish towel can hang.  No more falling off and ending up on the floor OR getting caught in the dishwasher.  YAY!


So here goes.  Being the serial crafter/crafter hoarder that I am,  I have saved the nice canvas-like ribbon from some sale sheets that I bought at Pottery Barn Kids.

It was perfect.  Not too week, not too bulky.

I cut my pieces at 3.5in.  It just looked right.

My first version, I folded over the ends twice at each end to prevent unraveling of the edges.  Then I pinned it to the middle of the dishtowel, and sewed a straight stitch back and forth a few times.

Not to bad.  It'll do the job just fine, but it just didn't hit the mark exactly.

Next I tried folding the ribbon under once on either end and then folding it in half length-wise.  Pins secured either end while I ironed the length-wise fold.

Like the other towel, I sewed it in the middle length-wise.  Only this time, I used a combo of a straight stitch and a zigzag stitch - the zigzag stitch to prevent the ribbon from unraveling and the straight stitch to prevent the zigzag stitch from coming undone.  I'm a safety girl.

The zigzag stitch is a little bit more noticeable, and if it bothered me, I would have gone to the store to buy matching thread.  Luckily it doesn't bother me. 

White in particular is one of my go-to threads.  There are so many seams that you don't see, and white or black or navy (all of which you can buy on cheaper, bigger spools) or whatever won't even be seen.  Why buy more expensive thread for something that won't be seen.  In addition, I am very much in favor of using your thread to accent your work if you want to.  Nothing wrong with contrasting colors if it is a look you like.

I liked the result so much that I modified 3 more dishtowels the same way.

It hangs just right.  Success!!!

Kelley