DIY: Dip Dyed Hand Towels With Tassels
It’s FRIDAY which means my talented friend Laura G. is back with a fun DIY project you will swoon over. Tassel lovers unite.
Take it away Laura…
My cousin, her husband, and their kids are coming to stay with us for the next five sleeps (yes, when you have three kids under 5 that’s how you count the days!). I started to think about what I could do to make my house guest-ready. For the guest room a basket with magazines for the parents, books for the kids, fresh fruit, bottles of water, some yummy goodies. For the guest bath, fresh flowers and the most darling hand towels! And what better way to spoil family and friends than by treating them with something home-made?!
These dip-dyed, tassel-adorned guest towels don’t take long to make, they look fantastic and, frankly, they would make a great gift! Let’s get to it!
What you Need:
Rit fabric dye, hand towels (I used these amazing soft cotton ones from Sur La Table but any light weight towels will do!), embroidery thread (I used 2 per towel), a needle and thread and a bowl!
Tassel How-To:
Ever make a tassel? I’ll warn you, once you start you wont stop and there will be tassels everywhere. I mean everywhere. Your daughters hair, on door knobs, on necklaces, on tree branches …. oh! just got an idea….focus!
Ok, to start, cut approximately one arms length of your embroidery thread, then cut that in half and set aside (we’ll call these scrap pieces!). Next, take the looped embroidery thread and cut it in half (we’ll call this the chunk). Take one of your scrap pieces and tie it around the middle of your chunk (set the other 1/2 aside to make your second tassel). Fold the embroidery thread in half. Take the second scrap piece and wrap it around the doubled thread a few times. Tie off a knot in the back. Finally, trim the bottom of the tassel to make it uniform and blunt! There you have it! A tassel! Repeat until you have all the tassels you want for your towels!
Dip Dye How-To:
Super easy. Fill your bowl or bucket with warm water, add in desired amount of Rit Dye and stir (note, this stuff is meant to stain and it will!). {Want a lighter color? Add less dye. Darker color? Add more dye.} So, now that you’ve added your color, slowly dip your towel into the dish being careful to hold up the back side of the towel (unless of course you want both ends dipped!). I went about 1/3 of the way up with the dye on my towels! Once you’ve dipped hang to dry!
The final step! Sew on them tassels! I got out the trusty measuring tape to space mine out along the front of the fold. Add a few stitches to each tassel to ensure that they are sung. (Note: Probably a good idea to hand wash these babies – because of the color and because of the delicate nature of the hand sewn tassels!)
