My friends Sara and Jon recently had a stellar housewarming party at their place. I wanted to bring something more fun and less expected than the typical bottle of wine. Here's an easy handmade idea for a set of personalized tea towels that makes a stand-out gift.
Read below the cut for the supplies you'll need and super simple how-to steps for fabric-stamped tea towels. Happy housewarming Sara and Jon!
supplies you'll need:
white floursack towels (shown here: from Kmart's Martha Stewart Everyday line)
rubber stamps (I used a Pottery Barn set that's been discontinued, but you can pick up a Cavallini set of alphabet stamps here. Bird stamp is from Impress.)
fabric paint + stencil brush (or you could use a fabric-ink stamp pad)
iron
papertowels
how to stamp towels:
1. Iron your towels to remove any wrinkles and creases and create a smooth stamping surface.
2. Dip your stencil brush in fabric ink (I used Jacquard Textile Color in Scarlet Red.) Apply paint to rubber stamp using a dabbing motion — a smooth stroke won't get enough paint on the entire stamp.
3. Do a test run by stamping a scrap piece of fabric or papertowel to see how it turns out. Adjust amount of paint on stamp if there's too much or too little ink. It's easy to err on too much — you only need a smidge of paint on your brush because you want to avoid getting globs of paint on the stamp.
4. Play around with the placement of your stamps on the towel. A simple design along one edge of the towel makes a pretty border. Start stamping!
5. Let your design dry for at least 30 minutes.
6. Heatset your design by ironing over the print. I like to first use a papertowel over the print when I iron. Then I remove the papertowel and iron directly over the design. Once the design is heatset, the towels are washer-friendly.
My method differs from those I've seen in some of my favorite printing books — my process actually came about when I wanted to print one day, and I didn't have a fabric stamp pad at home . So I improvised with the supplies I had on hand. I've loved the results using a brush and pot of fabric ink with stamping, so I've stuck with my method and used it to stamp 60 tea towels for my wedding, which turned out beautifully. The key is definitely to use a dabbing motion as you would with a stencil. Enjoy!
