The Luxurious Life of a Tea Towel

Some tea towels lead an unenviable life. Be it bad karma or simply un-spiffed-up-blandness, most tea towels eventually go by way of the rag pile, sopping up spilled wine and other snafus. Some, on the other hand, enjoy life in the lime light, and will never stoop so low as to clean a spill. This is the fate of this little lovely: My mom found it for me, and bought me two, knowing very well that they would be treated like royalty, and not tea towels. Today I made one into a half apron, for use at home, in the classroom, and for photo shoots. :)

It was already embroidered with the pots, flowers, and dragonfly motif. I added orange rick-rack at the bottom edge, cut off a bit of the length, and added the waist band and ties. Here's a quick look at how I did it.For the ties, cut four rectangles, 1 yd x 2.5 inches. Two of one fabric, two of another. Leaving one edge open for turning, stitch along the outside with right sides together, using a 3/8 in. seam allowance. Clip edges and turn. Press.
Decide how long you want your tea towel apron to be. Then cut a piece of fabric slightly longer than the width of the towel. The width of this waistband fabric also depends on your taste. Mine was about 2 1/4 in wide. With wrong side of waistband facing right side of tea towel, pin upper edge in place. Stitch a seam along this upper edge. Flip up waistband and press.

Cut the tea towel, leaving about 5/8 in of space between the top of the waistband and the top of the tea towel. Fold waistband over 1/4 in and press. Fold over top of towel and press. Pin in place and topstitch all layers together. Then topstitch along the bottom of the waistband. Wait for the approval of the King of Everything. If The Cat Almighty gives his nod, move on to the next step.
Fold under the sides of the waistband and press. Make a ridiculously cute little pleat as you attach the ties to the waistband. Pin and stitch in place.
Flaunt your new uber-cuteness, and frolic in the frivolity of it all!

xo,
Meg