How to sew a custom printed tea towel from Spoonflower

I choose to use motifs of cutlery and wanted to give them a vintage look that would look fabulous in a shabby chic or modern style kitchen. I feel I am developing a style of updated vintage with a modern edge which just happens to be the style I love.

Once I had uploaded my design using the quick and easy Spoonflower software I ordered my 1st yard impatient to wait for a sample swatch 1st (which is probably advisable!). My order was sent from Germany and arrived quickly. Here is my fabric as a yard before being cut into 4!

First, I ironed the fabric and cut it to size, measuring very carefully.

Because I have a border on my design I found it easy to make all the tea towel sides exactly the same size by eye! I did this by using the thinnest edge as a guide, then I folded the fabric, held it up to the light (leaning on a window) and lined the borders up, then folded the fabric where I wanted to cut the edge. It may be easier to measure it but this way I found it looked very even and perfectly centred.

Next, I double folded the hems, again lining by eye, that's just how I roll! I prefer to fold the outside edges 1st then the top and bottom fold over the sides. Then came the exciting part, the sewing. As I'd spent so long with my preparation, the sewing was the easy bit! I start at the bottom corner of the tea towel and try to sew in one continuous track, getting a nice flow with no unsightly joins. I used a tea towel that I bought from Harrods as a guide, it has my own Chocolate design on it which I'm really proud of. I would love to have more designs in the famous department store one day!