Up-Cycle More Towels - a Bath Mat Tutorial

Well, I did say I had another use for that huge bag of towels.  This project uses one bath towel and I thought I would make this a tutorial so that you can take one of those beginning-to-shred-along-the-edges towel and extend it's life. 
There are about 16 pictures but I am hoping I can keep the words to a minimum.  This project is a basic one and with the tools and supplies should not be more than a hour or so...

What you need

Sewing machine and all that goes with it.  A walking foot for your machine is especially useful for this project.
Thread, the same colour as your towel.
1 Large bath Towel
3/4 of a meter of cotton fabric
Iron and Ironing Board
Rotary Cutter, Mat and Ruler
Straight Pins

The Project

Step One:

If your towel has that sort of gathered band at each end, cut that off each end because you need the towel to lay flat.  If your towel is plain, just trim off the small bound edges at top and bottom.
Trim any frayed edges along the side.

Step Two:
Fold your towel in half so that the short ends touch and it makes a almost square rectangle (well, it is hard to make a square rectangle, or is a rectangle a square? anyway...)

Give a bit of a press to the towel and pin it all around so that it keeps the edges in line.

Step Three:

Back to the Cutting Table.  Cut two strips, 6 inches wide the length of your fabric. (if you did not have to cut off the gathered edge, you will need to cut 3 strips that are 6 inches wide, because your mat will be about 4 to 6 inches larger than if the gathered part is cut)

Take these strips and sew them together to make one long strip -at least 90 inches long - press the seam open.  Then press the strip in half lengthwise so that now it is 90 or more inches long and about 3 inches wide.
Set this aside for a few minutes.

Now cut 1 strip that is 3 inches wide and the length of the fabric.
Press a 1/4 to 1/2 inch turn under edge the length of the strip on both sides.  This is the decorative feature.

(sorry I forgot to take a picture so I hope you know what I mean!)

Step Four:

Pin the 3 inch wide strip across your folded over towel about 6 inches from one end of the towel.

Sew along the edge of the strip to secure it to the towel and at the same time "quilt" the layers together.  Sew the other side of this strip and then place another strip at the other end of the folded over towel (go to the end of the tutorial to see exactly what I mean, if you need to.

Then when you have both strips sewn to what is now the TOP of your BATH MAT.  Sew some "quilting" lines between the strips, about 3 to 4 inches apart.  This helps to hold the layers together better and makes the Mat a bit stronger and easier to wash.

Step Five: 

Now you will take the other section of fabric that you sewed into a long strip -- this will be your binding.   Starting part way along one of the long sides and with the back of the Mat facing up.  Sew the binding strip all around the outside edge of the Mat.  Make sure you get the binding strip and both layers of the towel.   This is much the same as doing binding on a quilt.   If you have not done this before, here is a link to a tutorial for binding a quilt.

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/photos/continuous_quiltbinding/index.html

or

http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/2007/09/quilt-binding-tutorial.html

Now the binding edge for the bath mat allows for a decorative wide edge - about 2 1/2 inches on the front so when you sew the binding to the back of the quilt first you will have this wide bit of fabric when you turn over to the top.

Much like the instructions of how to do continuous quilt binding you will turn the edge and pin it, but there is no need to sew it by hand.  In fact it will be much more secure to machine sew it.

As you are sewing the front of the binding to your bath mat, when you approach the corner, make sure that the corner is pulled snuggly straight 

Take advantage of the natural lay of the fabric and as you come to the corner, bring the edge over at the corner to form a neat miter.  Pin in place so that it doesn't slip and turn the corner.   

You can at this point sew along the folded miter or go back to it later -- but don't forget to sew that little extra bit!

 

Finally sew around your bath mat about 1 inch from the edge, this helps to keep the binding straight and avoids bunching up when you wash the mat. 

One thing to make sure of is that the beginning and ending of all your "quilting" or sewn lines be backtacked -- meaning when you finish sewing a line, reverse stitch for a couple of stitches.  This practice helps to keep the whole thing together when washing.  A bath Mat is wash fairly regularly and if the stitching is not well secured you might find seams unravelling before you want them to...

And Now...

As you can see that folded over towel turned bath mat fits nicely in my bathroom.  It is just the right size for feet to step out of the shower onto.

Let me know if you try this out.   You will never have to pay for a $20 retail bath mat again!

Up-cycling those Free Towels

You may remember this post, where I wrote about a huge bag of used towels given to me a while back...

Well, I have been thinking about useful uses for them.

Also the other day, I told you about a channel changer "caddy" that I made for the side of my husbands easy chair.   So, slightly expanding on his version, I decided to make one for my TV watching/knitting/crocheting chair.

One of the things that irritated me about the "caddy" that I had on my chair previously was that it kept slipping down and sometimes even fell off -- Now the idea is to make the over-the-arm length of the caddy long enough to fit a bit under the chair cushion so that when you sit down you are actually holding it all in place with your BUM...  But my chair is motorized -- I was pretty sick awhile back and practically didn't move out of the chair for about 6 months (twice!) so the lift chair really helped when I did have to get up to go you-know-where...   Anyway, because it is motorized the over-the-arm section cannot go under the cushion very far.

The solution?  Instead of a piece of fabric of both sides of some form of batting, I took one of those towels and simply put all the pockets and one piece of fabric on it.  The terry cloth that the towel is made of works beautifully to help "hold" the "caddy" in place at the side of my chair!

I also think that because it is terry cloth, if there happens to be a spill the terry cloth would absorb the spill quicker - allowing less mess to seep through to the upholstry and hopefully allowing for an easier clean up.  

The terry cloth and the cotton fabric  pockets make this home accessory an easy to wash and useful organizer.

I made pockets to hold the instruction sheets for things I may be knitting or crocheting and even a folded over magazine or notebook can fit in the wider pockets.  Three smaller pockets hold the chair's controller, and the two remote controls for the TV/DVD, and even a few little slots for crochet hooks and pens or small scissors.  Everything at my fingertips!

Now, as a last little note about this chair caddy, is that I somehow seem to be attracted to 1970's fabric and then I think about it and wonder why I picked it up -- which most often I find for a "minimal" price in one or the other of the second hand stores in town.  But this Blue.  It's pretty ugly, if I may say so myself. 

I have another couple of meters of this stuff!  I have to get it used up, it is beginning to make my eyes sore!   Which is why I wonder what possessed me to use it for this project?  Well, my explaination is because often on the first try, self-designed items don't work out and you (me) don't want to waste fabric that cost just barely less than a twenty dollar bill...  Now I have to look at it every day, every night and every time I walk past the chair....  Perhaps after a while it will not look so ugly, or perhaps I will find a couple of hours to remake this chair caddy in something that is nicer to look at.  Except that leaves the dilemna -- after being so proud of my self for finding another use for the bag of towels, it just wouldn't be proper? to discard what has already been given its second chance!   I'm sure I will get used to it, I must have liked the fabric when I first saw it, or was it the $1. price tag that attracted me?

Tomorrow -- or the next day -- ANOTHER project using those towels!

Sunday Flea Market Finds

On a whim, we decided to head over to the flea market today -- we have one at the Ag-Rec Grounds here in Abbotsford most every Sunday.  We go for the exercise and the "just in case" I find something useful.

Today, a couple of good buys...

Two, really large planters -- especially nice that they will go with the patio deck floor and less than half the price in the garden stores 2 months from now when everybody will be looking for backyard and garden supplies -- Definately a good idea to get these way before they are needed come May!

And Yarn...  A good quality Bernat acrylic yarn, a chunky and soft -- should make some nice hats and scarf sets for next winter -- so I have a summer full of knitting.. These, a great deal at $1 a ball.  This particular yarn is discontinued by the manufacturer, but grey and blue, I am hoping will always be colours that someone wants...

Speaking of Gardens...

Not quite at the end of February and here in the Fraser  Valley my perenial herbs are starting to come up out of their hiding places...

The chives are well up, almost able to snip a few bits maybe.

and Sage, which I had thought was done for as all the stalks had turned dry and brittle and leaves had all fallen off, but now I notice they too are pushing up thro the deadfall and coming up with that soft fuzzy green...

I am now going to be watching daily to see what others start to poke through...

Maintenance Sewing

Sometimes sewing comes down to a JOB...

Pearl, because she is a young dog, has a few naughty things she does and one of them is carrying channel changers off into a corner to chew - especially when SOMEONE (there is only one other someone who lives with me) leaves these indispensible tools laying about on chair seats or bottom shelves...

Now, she is usually pretty good when she sits in the back seat of the car because the whole point to getting in the car is to get out again and walk, run, jump, meet up with old and new buddies at the park and generally use up her abundant energy at anything but chewing channel changers...

So, today, I did some rescue sewing so that the SOMEONE could easily keep track of his channel changers and tv turn off and onners.  I have one on my chair made a year or two ago, but of course it is too pretty and flowery for that SOMEONE...

                                             The TV, off and no one in the chair...

Ahhhhh....  Perfect, even made in appropriate fabric -- CFL (Canadian Football Vintage )  Definately the correct image for a Football, Baseball, Hockey watchin' MAN and just lucky it keeps the channel changers handy and for some strange reason out of Pearl's range of places to sneak things to chew -- I don't quite know what kind of boundaries dogs, or this dog has, but she will take the item from the seat of the chair but not from the pocket of the channel changer keeper...  I HOPE..

So, that job done, I am taking a day off from sewing or knitting or crocheting for the shop.  We are off to a little town west of us Ft. Langley where there is a great picnic spot alongside the Fraser River -- if the wind is not too cold and around the block a pretty little quilt shop...  Oh and of course the dog park, where Pearl will surely get her fill of adventure...

How and Who 4

In talking via email with a neice, I was reminded of the embroidery work that my my mother-in-law spent many hours creating.  She took up this type of Embroidery in the late 1970's and continued to make a variety of pictures, embellishment on quilts, as features on the top of trinket boxes and other things. I had not seen this kind of embroidery work before - she called it Brazillian Embroidery and had taken some classes though a group that she was active in.

 Brazillian Embroidery is a dimensional system of creating knotted work that became tiny flowers and textured miniature leaves.  The threads were shiny rayon and she had to order them specifically for this type of embroidery.

I have not ever seen anyone else do this type of embroidery -- but of course there has to be others, for where else would she learn it -- and it's popularity is enough that there are web sites and online supply stores specifically for the rayon threads that are used.  Here are a couple of links if you wish to investigate this type of stitching a bit further.

http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/getting_started.htm

http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/

This is what Wikipedia says about Brazillian Embroidery.

Brazilian embroidery is a type of surface embroidery that uses rayon thread instead of cotton or wool. It is called "Brazilian" embroidery because the use of high-sheen rayon thread in embroidery was first popularized in Brazil, where rayon was widely manufactured. Brazilian embroidery patterns usually include flowers formed using both knotted and cast on stitches. Although many of these stitches are used in other forms of embroidery, the technique used to create them is slightly different.



The difference is caused by the method used to manufacture the rayon thread. For example, cotton thread uses an S twist when the fiber plies are combined into a strand. Rayon thread uses a Z twist. One type of twist turns the fiber plies clockwise; the other turns them counterclockwise. When forming the knots of Brazilian embroidery, the embroiderer must wrap the thread onto the needle in the opposite direction from that used in other types of embroidery. Otherwise the fibers of the thread will unravel and make the resulting stitches and knots unattractive

I used to keep a couple of the stitcheries that she made on the wall in various rooms, but over the years they got switched out with other things -- but sentamentality made me keep the things of her that I had been given.

So I went looking for the pieces that my mother-in-law had given me in the years that I knew her.  I know that together we created a piece that I entered in a guild quilt show - at least 10 years or more ago and it came home with a third place ribbon.  I think it received that ribbon because of her beautiful stitchery, not because of my quilting...

I am lucky enough to have been given some examples of her lovely work and even though I did not take up this form of stitchery to great expertise it took me into silk ribbon embroidery that I used fairly often on some of my crazy quilts or blocks.

The next few photos are close up images of the different flowers that she did on the little round "Plaque" above.  Everytime I look at those stitches I am amazed at how she twisted and knotted the threads  so carefully and intricately to create those tiny flowers.

Aren't they lovely?  I am so glad that I had people in my life willing to take the time to show me these crafts and often how to do them...

Sometimes as a daughter-in-law, I did not see eye to eye with my husband's mother, but I certainly admire her skill as a stitch artist!  She was so very meticullous about the way she worked and I am glad she was generous enough to share her work.  Now all these years later, I appreciate them so much !

Work and Reward

Day to day stuff...

No matter who you are there are things that get done everyday.  Most of the time it is washing dishes and making beds, sweeping floors and wiping counters.  In a way I do enjoy those things, the things that you do over and over and over again.  But no one really gets excited about those hum-drum things cause everybody does it (or someone does it for them) and nobody talks about it or gets excited about it.

I remember my Mother showing me exactly how to wipe a counter top -- don't just swish the rag back and forth! No, you sorta go in half circles working your way to the edge and allowing the cloth to gather all the crumbs and bits til you get to the edge and carefully dump it into your other waiting hand.  Now I do it that way, and I am sure you likely do to!

Now, today though along with those hum-drum sorts of things I have managed to fit a few rewards in with all the work!

Not yesterday, but the evening before, I started to knit another toque...
For some reason I kept counting wrong and the 64 stitches that I was supposed to cast on, was 63, so I took it apart and started again -- it's amazing how long it takes to cast on stitches and to knit the first couple of rounds!

I took the work in progress with me to a meeting where I sat in a chair for a couple of hours listening to people talk about quilting (My quilt guild meeting, actually)  I surprised myself how quickly I was able to knit up this toque, because this morning, I knitted the last few rows while I read through some blogs before breakfast...

{I had no model on hand so the big crochet rock on my balcony served as model for the new toque}

As I was saying I was at my quilt guild meeting on Tuesday.  One of the "features" of our meeting is a Give and Take table -- I always check it!  And there was a shoebox full of cut squares, all about 3" square or so.  Now, I sure didn't need a whole shoebox (in fact a boot size box) of fabric.  I started looking though the squares and noticed that there were some very interesting OLD or perhaps you could call it Vintage fabrics.  I love old stuff!   So I picked out a good handful of a variety of the older fabrics and trundled back to my seat not looking at them again until I got home quite some time later...

Interesting selection of little squares there, except there was a problem... 

Can you see?  Every single one was not quite right, some were 3 inches and a bit one way and 3 inches or less the other way or more that 3 1/4 inches, many of them lop-sided as the square above -- do you see?  Aw, Well, I decided I really liked the combinations of those old fabrics, so I took the time and trimmed the squares down to 2 1/2 inches square.  Now I suspect that these old fabrics had been in a drawer or a box since before we had rotary cutters, rulers and mats and that these had been scissor cut, with a bit of a slip now and then...

I stacked up the finished recut squares and since I did not take too, too many I decided to just put them all together randomly, created a border or two and call it complete.   Quilted simply with a cross-hatch design all over, I found another older fabric to use for binding and got that little project done before lunch time!

Both the toque and the little quilt will be going into my ETSY store (click on the sidebar where it says ETSY if you would like to know more)

You would think that was enough work and rewards for one day, eh?  Well, not so...

The word has been going around that McDonalds (yeah, the big Yellow M) was giving away Buttermilk biscuits yesterday and today.

Well, now, one of my favourite quick homemade snacks is Tea Biscuits, or some call it Short Bread or Quick Bread.  I don't have the inclination to go to a fast food place with all the noise and line-ups so I decided I can make a batch of Buttermilk Biscuits fancied up for practically the same price that McDonalds is charging AND I can have more that ONE!

I got out my Mom's old recipe book, not because other books don't have a Tea Biscuit Recipe but because I like to use her cookbook and remember learning about baking and cooking along side her, many many years ago (about the same era as those 'vintage' fabrics are from in the first part of my little story)

So I put the ingredients all together, rolled them and cut them and put them on the baking tray.

Into, and then out of the oven...

By the way, my homemade "Buttermilk Biscuits" are fancied up with chopped prunes and a pinch or two of cinnamon -- try to get that at a fast food joint!  And I would bet the homemade version here has far fewer calories than the FREE ones...

Finally onto a plate with too much butter, and apple and a bowl of soup for lunch...

Whew!

Now I wonder what is on TV this afternoon?

Raise a Ruckus Mystery Quilt online and printable!

Some things take a bit of time to figure out...

To make things easier for you, when I create a Mystery Quilt, I have been trying to make it so that you can print the instructions by each step without having to run back and forth to the computer...

So if you would test out this for me, and leave a comment below (I am going to make it easy so that anyone can comment -- no signing in) and let me know how the system works for you.

Please click right HERE then let me know if you were taken to the site where the 5 pdf files for the mystery quilt open on your computer.   You probably need to click on each of the five parts to print them out one at a time if you want to.  For now, though, unless you really want the instructions I would greatly appreciate it if you can take the time to let me know if this works for you.

a pile of toques

Ah, yes! Those Canadian knitted hats...

Keeping my fingers very busy -- these toques will be in the shop by Monday Morning...

I think I like them better without the pompom...

What do you think?