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Sew a Cath Kidston appliqué tea-towel

Decorate a tea-towel with nostalgic fabric images

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Cath Kidston applique teatowel - kitchen craft - allaboutyou.com

This plain tea towel with a striped border offers a great background for appliquéd decoration using nostalgic 1950s images.

1 Pick out your favourite images from a piece of patterned fabric and cut them out roughly. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, fuse them to the adhesive side of some fusible bonding web. Use a sheet of paper towel to protect the iron.

2 Cut each motif out with a curved line, following the contour of the image and leaving 6-10mm of plain fabric around the outside. Peel off the backing papers.

3 Lay the motifs out on a plain tea towel, starting with a balanced arrangement of the largest shapes and filling in the gaps with the smaller ones. Using a hot dry iron, press them into position (ill. 1).

4 Edge each of the motifs with a round of blanket stitch, worked with three strands of cotton embroidery thread in a colour to match the background (ill. 2).

Top tip: Make 15cm of spotty ribbon into a hanging loop by folding it in half, turning under the ends and stitching it to the top left corner of the tea towel with thread that matches the ribbon.

All of these projects are taken from 'Patch!' by Cath Kidston