I have a bunch of (new)flour sack material panels and want to finish it into dishtowels. It is plenty big to double up for a single towel. They are hemmed on 2 sides, selvage on other 2, but I want to do something different.
It is very thin, but I guess that is what it is supposed to be. Do you usually hem them up and put a simple embroidered border on for decoration? I don't use a fancy embroidery machine; just decorative stitches on my old machine. Any ideas welcome. TIA JPBill
I just do a simple hem, no embroidery, but others have different methods. One thing to remember, to embroider you may have to use some sort of stabiliser as backing. I just like to keep things simple so the cloths will withstand laundering in hot water well, and can be run through the mangle without any problems.
Candide
Your towels are finished.
You may decorate them if you please -- but remember that floursacking doesn't wear very long -- unlike seed-corn sacking -- my sister has some seed-corn sack towels that have been in service for over forty years.
You don't want to invest much labor in decorating dish towels or tack on anything that will interfere with drying dishes-- unless you plan to hang them up as decorations; then anything goes.
If you do plan to use decorative stitches, the embroidery will go easier if you get a plastic spray bottle from the hardware store -- a bottle meant for insecticide will have dilutions and measurements marked on it, so it's easier to use than a plant mister, and a hardware-store bottle is less likely to clog than the cheap bottles you get at the hypermart.
Put in one part of bottled starch and two parts of water, then lay out your towel right-side-down somewhere flat, smooth, and waterproof, spray the areas you mean to embroider until thoroughly soaked, pat flat and smooth, as if you were meaning to glue the towel to the flat, smooth surface. Allow to dry. When peeled off the surface, the starched areas should be very stiff, and smooth to the point of shiny on the right side.
Joy Beeson
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