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Saturday, October 15, 2011

Ten Minute Towels....

I mentioned making towels using the stitches from the black work, simplified. Here you go!

First I whipped out the PC Stitch program and laid out a few simple ones to see what I could do...


Any of these can be used alone or combined to make new pattern and you can use any colors you wish to coordinate with your kitchen or bath.

I made these towels 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" for kitchen towels.

They can be made on any count even weave. The finer the better for scale. Again I used the 32 count.

Here are three of the stitches and as you can see, they are either straight running stitches over and under a count of two or four threads or diagonal stitches over two threads.

The first one is simply alternating the needle under four threads, top and bottom and moving two threads over each time.

The second is two rows of running stitches, two over and two under. Then the third time all of the stitches are run diagonally under two threads to connect the other ones.


The third one is all vertical stitches on the back side, causing diagonals on the front. I did this in two rows.The other two are simply running stitches and cross stitches.I marked out the size of the towels on the fabric and then just kept stitching across, one at a time.

When I was finished, I turned them over and ran white glue along the cutting lines on the back. When It was partially dry, I cut them carefully on the lines.I will fold them all in thirds, lengthwise, like the one on the top. Yes. It is glued...Lightly. It can easily be pulled apart to hang over a towel rack.

Now go find some even weave scraps and a little floss and have at it! It's fun to see what you can come up with.

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Kathi said...

You ARE going to send these towels to ME, aren't you??? LOL They would be perfect for my kitchen! :D
Thanks for the new patterns. You make it look easy and quick too!

Mary said...

Very nice. I was wondering if you have ever tried chicken scratch embroidery, it is worked on gingham. I made a mini pillow with it, I thought that it worked well but I have not been able to find mini gingham in many colors. Here's a link to simple instructions http://www.pegasusor.com/chicinst.htm

Caseymini said...

Kathi, those wouldn't go with your kitchen. They are more like the last photo. The thread is a dark green. Hang on....I have to go look at the colors in your kitchen.

Mary, I did chicken scratch before it was even called that.LOL Early 70s was when I learned and we just called it gingham embrodery. It's kind of the same principle...Straight stitches looking very complicated.

Lucille said...

You have a looooooooot of patience, Casey. Also, you must have good eyes! Beautiful work!

Kathi said...

Light blue, lime green, red, orange, light green, yellow, aqua... Any color will do! :D
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

Caseymini said...

Kathi, Zar held a gun to my head whilst I finished five different colors. He says "Thanks for the Clockwork Caravan!".

Angela said...

What a great idea! Thank you for sharing. I love to read about Tessie and Zar.