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When they finally appeared, many people thought they were unnecessary, impractical and even scandalous
Tired of plain old shop-bought tea towels? Then spruce up your kitchen with this tea towel embroidery pattern. The humble tea towel is something we all have in our kitchens, and sometimes they can be dull and uninspiring, but you can transform them into a lovely design that complements your kitchen with this wonderful pattern.
Cotton tea towels are easy to embroider, and the designs are endless. There is little difference between embroidering on a piece of fabric and a cotton tea towel. The gorgeous sunny design of a bottle with wildflowers was designed by Jessie Doe and is part of a set of designs for Love Embroidery issue 1. Your kitchen area will be brightened with this tea towel, or you could give it as a gift to someone special.
The tea towel embroidery pattern uses a variety of stitches, making it the perfect pattern for beginners seeking their next challenge and wanting to develop more intricate stitching skills. Below you’ll find a stitching key and guides on how to do each type of stitch. If you are new to embroidery, be sure to check out our guide on embroidery for beginners, plus this handy embroidery stitches library, which should be part of your arsenal!
If you love this design and want to create more tea towels with different designs, you can find plenty of free embroidery patterns right here. We’re sure you’ll find something to suit your taste.
Materials for the tea towel embroidery
- Cotton tea towel
- Stranded cotton: burgundy, light green, dark green, grey, orange, purple, turquoise, white, yellow
- Basic embroidery kit
Free tea towel embroidery template
And you’ll need our free tea towel embroidery template too.
Embroidery stitches key
- French Knots – See our How to do French knots guide
- Satin Stitch – See our How to do Satin Stitch guide
- Stem Stitch – See our Stem stitch embroidery guide
- Straight stitch – See our Straight stitch embroidery design for instructions
- Chain stitch – See our How to do chain stitch guide
- Back stitch – See our How to backstitch guide
Your free tea towel embroidery pattern
You will need:
- Cotton tea towels
- Stranded cotton
- Basic embroidery kit
Step 1
Transfer the tea towel embroidery pattern from the template onto the fabric using your preferred method. We used a lightbox and an erasable pen
Step 2
Work the lettering in Backstitch using three strands of burgundy.
Step 3
Embroider the bottle outlines in Chain Stitch using six strands of orange. Work the outside of the label in Straight Stitch using six strands of orange.
Step 4
Work the flowers in Satin Stitch using six strands of grey, purple, turquoise, white and yellow.
Step 5
Add French Knots in the centre of the flowers using three strands of grey, white and burgundy.
Step 6
Work the leaves in Satin Stitch and the stems in Stem Stitch using six strands of both greens.
Step 7
Create the lavender petals by working varying lengths of Backstitch, using six strands of purple.
Step 8
Add small spots of colour around the flowers by working small Backstitches using three strands of orange. Or, work these as French Knots if you prefer.
Spruce up your tea towels
An embroidered teatowel is a quick, satisfying make that adds a personal touch to your kitchen. Enjoy your stitch time and show off a handmade piece you’ll use every day.
Keep up the sunny stitching
Now you’ve certainly brightened up your kitchen decor, why stop there? We have a whole host of sunny embroidery designs for you to try your hand at. Try the busy bee embroidery.
