fresh juniper: Dish Towel Tutorial - August Edition: Little Birdies and Lace

It is such great fun designing and sharing the new Kitchen Towels.

August Edition Kitchen Towel

Fresh juniper's Dish Towel Tutorial - August Edition - 12 Months of Pretty Kitchen Towels is fanciful and unique, yet it blends well with the entire series. I'm in love with the cute little floral bird appliques. Flowers and birds are also key elements in the design of the Kitchen Curtains and the July Dish Towel.

Dish Towel Tutorial - July Edition - 12 Months of Pretty Kitchen Towels

The blue broadcloth ruffle was made using fabric remnants from the valance of the new Kitchen Curtains.

Kitchen Curtains Tutorial - Give Your Kitchen Window A Fresh New Look!

The blue ruffle and red grosgrain ribbon trim in the August Edition also match the May Dish Towel.

Dish Towel Tutorial - May Edition - 12 Months of Pretty Kitchen Towels

Each design has the name of the corresponding month embroidered on it somewhere. This month "AUGUST" is embroidered on the ruffle.

As I mentioned earlier, the top is embellished with red grosgrain ribbon just like the May Dish Towel.

Underneath the red ribbon is a bit of Vintage Lace Trim.

DIY Vintage Lace Trim - Upcycle Your Lace Tablecloth or Curtains!

The trim was made from a lovely crocheted lace tablecloth HUBBY and I purchased in Mexico on our honeymoon way back in 1986. This trim is also used on the Kitchen Curtains valance.

Kitchen Curtains Tutorial - Valance

The May Dish Towel Tutorial gives instructions on making dish towels from plain muslin fabric. It doesn't take much at all to make a set of two towels. I made a whole dozen with just four yards of 44" width muslin.

If you have an old lace dress, tablecloth, curtain panel, etc. that you'd like to use for your trim, instructions are given here: DIY Vintage Lace Trim - Upcycle Your Lace Tablecloth or Curtains!
If you don't have vintage, just use new lace. It should be approximately one to two inches wide and long enough to go across the entire top of your dish towel.

Lay the lace across the top of the towel, then lay the ribbon in place atop the lace near the edge. Pin the lace and ribbon together in place on the towel. Machine stitch across the top edge of the ribbon. Then machine stitch across the bottom edge of the ribbon. Run a short row or two of stitches across the left and right sides of the towel, ribbon, and lace to hold them together securely and keep the ribbon from fraying.

Pin the ruffle in place across the bottom of the towel and machine stitch or serge, right sides together.

Fold over minimal hem, press, and stitch. The tutorial for adding this ruffle is in the May Dish Towel Tutorial.

I found the template for the cute little birdie applique here: Country Living Magazine Free Printable Bird Template. They used the same template to make denim skirt pockets. Just download the free template, print, and cut it out.

With your fabric folded in half, right sides together, place the birdie on top , pin, and cut it out. Pin your birdies, facing each other and parallel to each other, at the bottom of the towel above the ruffle. Topstitch near the outside edges all the way around each bird. For fun, I drew simple wings on my birds with a fabric pencil, then used a contrast colored thread to topstitch over the lines on the drawing.