The time to to introduce the September Edition of our 12 Months of Pretty Kitchen Towels Series: Sewing Road Trip USA - The States of Kentucky, Michigan, Louisiana, West Virginia, Montana, Utah, and Texas plus State Birds and State Flowers! is finally here.
Tak a peek at each photo as you read through this post. Perhaps you'll find your state, state bird, or state flower included here.
Want to know how to make the basic, unembellished dish towel? Check out the May Edition for the full tutorial.
The name of the month, September, is embroidered along the left and right edges of the towel. We added some little tied bow embroidery next to the name just for fun. If you don't have a machine that does embroidery, just pencil the name neatly along the edge of the towel and hand embroider the month in place.
The beautiful brown candy striped grosgrain ribbon along the bottom border is machine stitched in place all around the edges. Check Steps 9 through 12 of the the May Edition for the tutorial on how to add ribbon embellishment.
The tiny yellow ribbon is pinned on top of the serged stitches, top and bottom, and machine stitched into place on the dish towel. This is done by placing the print fabric in position atop the towel, laying the ribbon over the serged edges, and pinning all three layers into place. Then simply machine stitch down the center of the ribbon.
 |
| July and September Kitchen Towels |
As you can see from the photos, I used this fabric in the design of more than one month in this series.
I absolutely adore the vintage USPS State Bird and Flower design fabric. It is created by the same artist that designed the famous USPS State Bird and Flower Postage Stamps of the 1980s. Remember the Kitchen Curtains Tutorial?
Yep, this is the same print fabric used in the curtains, so it matches beautifully.
Have fun making your dish towels, and be sure to send me some photos!
FYI, here are the states, state birds, and state flowers shown on the September and July (red ribbon border) towels.
States
Michigan, Montana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana, Pennsylvania and North Carolina
NOTE: If you look closely at the Kitchen Curtains photo you might see almost all 50 states with official birds and flowers.
State Birds
Western Meadowlark - KS, MT ND, NE, OR, and WY
Common American Gull - UT
Mockingbird - AR, FL, MS, TN, and TX
Cardinal - IN, IL, KY, NC, OH, VA, and WV
Eastern Brown Pelican - LA
Ruffled Grouse - PA
Robin - CT, MI, and WI
State Flowers
Apple Blossom - AR and MI
Bluebonnet - TX
Magnolia - LA and MS
Bitterroot - MT
Goldenrod - KY and NE
Rhododendron - WV
American Dogwood - NC and VA
Just for fun, here is a photo from Philosateleia
of the original USPS State Birds and Flowers Stamps that were issued in 1982.
