I Digress.........

Once again I am off on a tangent. I heard from Susan, on the forum this morning, that you can use Viva paper towels in the printer without backing just by cutting them to 8 1/2 X 11! I have yet to try that, but it jogged my memory about something that I learned from a friend 30 years ago. She didn't know where it came from and just said "Pass it on." I have never seen it in a book. It is quick. It is easy. And it looks much more in scale than bath towels made of fabric.

First you want to go out and find some pretty 2 ply paper napkins. Not the ones that come 5oo to a package, more like party napkins. The Vanity Fair napkins with the sea shell pattern seem to be lighter weight than they used to be. If you use those, let me know how they work. They looked too thin to me this time. I found these blue ones at Wal Mart for 1.00 a package. They had quite a few colors and they are a nice weight. Sometimes you can find small patterned ones or some with nice borders at party supply stores if you want something specific. Just remember that you will be cutting away all but a quarter inch of the pressed border.

Then you need some double faced sticky tape. I just used Scotch brand on these. If you want the towels to appear big an fluffy you can use carpet tape. I like this just fine. Tape, 2 ply napkins and scissors are all you need!

The first thing you want to do is lay the napkin out flat and cut off all but about a quarter of an inch of the fancy edge. These had a rope edge and a fringe so I left a fringe about as wide as the rope=1/4". Then you want to cut a square inch from the corner with the fancy border running along two edges. This is your face cloth. For the bath towel you need a piece 2" x 4". Make sure that the fancy part is along one narrow edge. For the hand towel the measurments are 1 1/2" x 3". You can always go measure your own bath towels and divide by 12 if you want to be exact. Turn them over to the wrong side. Run a piece of double faced tape down the center of the towels. Try not to wrinkle them. Put a piece of tape in the corner farthest from the fancy edges of the face cloth.

Now fold 1/3 of each towel over the tape and smooth down. I always try to keep the folds going in the same direction. In other words. Always keep both fancy ends on the right side or the left. That way when you stack them they will look neater. Fold the face cloth in half.

Now run a piece of tape over the area that you just folded in on the towels and a square of tape on the facecloth where there is no trim. Fold the last 1/3 in on the tape.

Decide if you want a folded towel or one that hangs on the rack. Whichever one you want, put a piece of tape on just the half of the towel without the fancy edge. If you want it over a towel rack, simply slide the part with the tape on it behind the bar and position the front of the towel on it and press it down.

How simple is that? Now go make lots of towels! I am going to go work on the trunk.

See you tomorrow.