Stenciled Kitchen Towels

Stenciled Kitchen Towels
By Judi Kauffman for StencilGirl Products

I bought some wonderful retro-looking 16” wide kitchen toweling at an old-school five and dime in Vermont, intending to cut it into pieces and hem the ends. But then it hit me: Add a bit of gel plate printing and some stenciling.

Kitchen toweling and stencils are a great match! The stripes and window pane checks provide a starting point for positioning the patterns, anchor the design, and help determine the paint colors.

Other options:

Instead of using the stenciled toweling as kitchen towels, use it for curtains, valances, children’s clothing, baby bibs, pot holders, aprons, tote bags, napkins, place mats, table runners, throw pillows…By starting with toweling sold by the yard, not pre-hemmed towels, there are SO many possibilities! (Towels shown are 16” x 22”.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash toweling to remove sizing; iron and hem. (Option: Wash and iron pre-hemmed towels.)

2. Using red acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium or red fabric paint, create a background grid with the 3” Gelli Arts gel printing plate. Heat set per paint manufacturer’s instructions. Choose colors that coordinate with your toweling and suit your taste. I went for a 1940s feel and palette.

3. Using green acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium or green fabric paint, add stenciled leaves (striped towel) or stenciled leaves plus random crackle pattern (window pane towel). Heat set. 

4. If desired, add ball fringe, rickrack or other trim. For even more texture and detail, do a bit of hand embroidery!

SUPPLIES:

StencilGirl Products –

Crackle

Woodland Leaves

Other –

Gelli Arts 3” square gel printing plate

Toweling fabric (OR purchased pre-hemmed towels)

Acrylic paint in colors of choice and fabric medium (OR paints formulated for fabric)

Sponge wedges to apply paint