Hand painted tea towels

One of the things I love to make for the boutique that I sell out of is custom tea towels. This is a great project because it is pretty in expensive and can get a really high end look. This is something even a beginning crafter can do with fantastic  results....

This works best with %100 cotton towels.

I like to use Tulip soft fabric paint in matte. You can use regular acrylic paint and fabric medium as well. If you use straight acrylic paint, it gets hard and cracks, or as  a good friend of mine likes to say "crunchy".

After you've figured out your design; lightly pounce the paint onto the stamp with one of those black foam brushes.Once it's loaded with paint but not dripping, push firmly on your towel. If you are doing this for the first time, a test towel wouldn't be  a bad idea.

Once you've stamped out your images, let the paint dry and then iron to heat set the paint.

Attach your fringe or trim  with either hot glue or fabric glue. I really like Fabri-tac fabric glue, but my bottle always seems to dry out before the next time I need it and the hot glue gun is always ready. As long as you wash with cold water and lay flat to dry, the glue doesn't come apart.

Then enjoy your new tea towel! These are also great gifts! And if you like a more aged look, the cotton tea/coffee dyes really well, just do it before painting. You can do any kind of designs and with Halloween coming around, maybe a boo or two would be appropriate.

~Jen