How to Sew Lace Towel Embellishments

High-end towels in your bathroom do not have to cost a lot of money. You can do these on your own using a plain towel and dressing it up with some trim that you can get from your local fabric store or online, and I'm going to show you how to do that. And it takes minutes. It doesn't take very long at all. So I have these three towels here.

They all have, I mean, it's the same kind of idea, just a little bit of different layering. We have this plain towel here with just a nice strip of trim that I bought. Just like this. And we're actually going to be making one like this today. And then I also have this towel that has a little bit more layering to it.

So, it has three layers of different laces. So, I literally just took different pieces of lace and I laid it out just so that I could visually see it before I sewed it. And then this piece would've gone on top to give it that extra layer. And for this one, with these edges, I sewed it just to finish it on the edge. I didn't attach it to the edge of the towel, as you can see, they all fold up, but it just kind of gives it that nice finished look and it makes it look finished.

This towel here, I used a couple of different techniques. I use the lace, like I showed you earlier, and I layered it. I got a piece of fabric, and this is such a great project to do, to match, you know, your paint color, or your towels that you have existing, or your accessories in your bathroom already. And I just kind of audition fabrics. I talk about auditioning fabrics a lot.

And basically what that means is just seeing what it looks like before you sew it onto your piece. So for this project, what I did, I used fusible web, and you can get this product at any fabric craft store as well. It's a hard plastic on the outside, and then this is kind of textured on the inside and this is the sticky part. So, what I did for this project was I used this, I ironed it on my fabric first, and then I peeled off the plastic from the back and it just leaves a tacky substance on the fabric, and then you iron it onto the towel. But before that, I folded it under, and then I pinned it, and then I ironed it and it kind of secured it nicely.

And then I used a decorative stitch as you can see here to finish it off, but I mean, you can just use, you know, a zigzag or a straight stitch, whatever you're comfortable with. You could use different thread, different color thread, to add even more interest to it, if that suits your fancy. So, let's go ahead and make a towel. And this, you're going to be very surprised at how fast you can do this. It's so quick.

You're going to be like, I'm going to go do that right now, 'cause it's so quick. So, I lay out my towel and I make sure that it's the right side. I'm kind of a little picky about that. So, I just make sure that the fold is on the bottom, so I know that I'm going on the right side here, and I've got this beautiful trim. Somebody's bathroom is gonna be happy.

So, as you can see, I'm just laying it over this piece. So, it's a good guide. And then I just cut it, and you can see I'm leaving a little bit on each side 'cause I'm going to fold it under. And again give it a nice, finished look. And I'm gonna pin it so that it's nice, it's secure, and it doesn't shift while I'm sewing it.

All right. So, of course, it's a little bit thicker on the end here. A little bit tougher to get your pin through, so don't poke yourself. I'm just gonna stagger my pins throughout. I'm gonna use a straight stitch on this because, I mean, it's so pretty.

It doesn't need any additional interest added to it, in my opinion. My boys always say that. "In my opinion." Okay. So, you're gonna end up making one and then you're gonna say, "Oh, that's so easy. I'm gonna make more and more and more." And then you're going to, Christmas time, everybody's going to be getting embellished towels from you.

That's how I roll. Okay, here we go. That's all set. Sewing machine over. Start sewing.

And make sure you pull the pin out before the needle hits the pin. This is something that I try and teach everybody that's just learning to sew. Just don't take the chance that the needle is gonna pop over the pin because sometimes it hits it dead on and sharp objects fly. I'm going to put my needle down while I turn, so it keeps the fabric and everything lined up. Carry on.

Some machines, you can set it to where the needle is down every time you stop stitching. So, I'm just going to fold this through here. Take that pin out. There we go. There we go.

And as you can see, I'm just lifting the presser foot just up a little bit to turn it on the corner. And I try and keep these edges nice, so there's not a whole lot of, you know, so it just looks really nice and tight. Turn it around. Here we are. Whoops.

So easy. It's crazy, isn't it? Like I said, you're going to be sewing towels like crazy. Every time you change your bathroom color you're gonna sew another towel or a couple of towels. I mean, it's just such an easy way and it's so inexpensive to do, and it doesn't take a lot of time.

It doesn't take a lot of experience. You know, it's really easy, you know, and as you get more comfortable you can get into more layering or, you know, just adding different concepts to your towel. Let's see. Sorry about that. Let's do this, fold it nice so it's presentable.

There you go. Look how pretty that is. So, go out there, buy some towels. You can get them for very cheap at different box stores. Find some trim.

Oh, I want to share with you the trim. You can often get them on sale at, you know, 50% off sales or whatever. So I always try, if I see something that I like and it's on sale, I always grab a yard or two yards, and just for projects like this, you know? So, I've got all these different trims. And so if I know that somebody is moving and they have a new home or whatever, I can always just sew up a towel really fast and go with it.

I will show you some of that. It just changes. Like I said, I mean, it's a plain white towel. I mean, that's kind of boring. So let's, you know, put that on there and boom, you know?

It matches something. And then I've got this and you can even layer different trims. Here we go. That, and then we can, oh gosh, look at me. I was very organized and put it all together nicely.

So, you know, you can add extra trim, put another black strip down here and it just adds another layer to it. Very easy, very easy. This. Simple, but you know? I get excited, 'cause it's so easy.

So, and then, oh, you know what I was thinking? For this other towel here, you know, say Valentine's is coming up, you can add this trim to this and make it, you know, festive and you know, Christmas or whatever, you know? And you can either keep it on there, make another one, or you can take your seam ripper, take it off, add another color, whatever you want. It's just up to you. Little pom poms, you know?

There's just so much you can do. So, I encourage you to use your creativity and get some towels and just play with them. I mean, you can just take out the seam ripper and rip it off if it doesn't work for you and try something different. It's very easy and it didn't take a lot of time, so enjoy.