Product Release 2013 Tea Towel Embroidery Calendar Kit

My latest tea towel kit features a new urban botanical mash-up pattern. Each towel is made of 100% natural linen and is screen printed with water based inks. Everything is packaged up into one kit with love. Check out more details here.

D.I.Y. TEA TOWEL EMBROIDERY KIT INCLUDES: 
• 100% natural linen tea towel
• 27" x 16" with a rolled hem
• 2 needles and quality red thread
• 6 in embroidery hoop
• Instructions and stitch guide

The hem at the top has a slot that allows you to easily hang with a dowel rod. 

I'm feeling extra crafty ever since the weather has changed. All I want is a fire, red wine, and a good project to curl up with on the sofa. 

DIY Customized Embroidery Tea Towel for a Wedding Keepsake.

This tea towel would be a great gift if you know someone getting married. You can customize it by matching their wedding colors to your thread color. Also, use left over thread to write the bride and groom's name or write a simple message to them. Read below on steps to do customize.

I used a light box but a window would work fine to trace the letters onto the towel. I think handwriting, especially cursive would also be nice to try. I do recommend planning out how the text will look on another piece of paper. This way you can mess up and it won't be any big deal.
Next, follow your guide and take small stitches around the curves so it doesn't look too choppy.
Circle any dates that may be of importance like weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Try to have fun with it and make it your own. The possibilities are endless. If you have any pictures of your stitched up tea towel, I would love to see!

Happy stitching,

Laura

Embroidery on a Linen Tea Towel

Here is one of my latest designs stitched on a 100% linen tea towel.

How to Frame a Tea Towel or Fabric

This tutorial is for anybody that wants an inexpensive but effective way to frame fabric. This will work for needle point projects, tea towels, or just yardage of your favorite fabric. Today I will be using one of my D.I.Y. embroidery kits as an example.

You will need:

• Foam core (try to get acid-free)

• Ruler

• Straight Pins

• Utility knife, or exacto knife

• Tape

• Frame (I got mine from ikea for $10)

Use a utility knife or exacto knife to cut down the foam core so that it fits snugly inside your frame.
Next, figure out exactly how you want your fabric to hang in the frame. I used some painters tape to temporarily hold the cloth in place while I turned over the frame to look at placement. Once everything looks good, take off your painters tape and place the foam core on top of the cloth. Ideally your fabric would wrap around the foam core on all sides, but with this particular piece it only wraps on two sides.
With straight pins, secure the fabric onto the foam core. Push your pins at a very shallow angel so they are not poking through to the other side of the foam core. Make sure to push the pin all the way into the head. If the pin is only half way in the fabric can slip around. Start with doing 3 pins on each side, then go back and fill in pins every could of inches.
It is very tricky to get everything straight onto the foam core. The first time I tried this, the piece ended up being crooked. I got out my trusty ruler and measured to the bottom of the numbers on both sides to get a more accurate placement and then re-pinned everything. It was definitely worth it in the end.
Here is the stretched piece ready to go in the frame! Place face down: the glass, mat, fabric piece, and lastly the backing.
I find it is easier to use a butter knife than my finger nails to get the clips to go down.

Next, attach your wire and you are ready to hang your framed fabric piece on the wall.

Let me know in the comments how this technique worked for your project.

Product Launch: Introducing 2012 Calendar Tea Towel D.I.Y. Embroidery Kit

It's been a long time in the process, but here it is! I had so much fun with my tea towel last year, that I decided to bring it in to 2012. Wonderfully, my longtime love of embroidery has been well received by the ETSY community in the form of my STICHIES Kits. I thought it time to carry that passion over and expand into the world of tea towel calendars, a functional and beautiful addition to any kitchen.

The kits take approximately 8 - 14 hours. By the end of the kit, you feel confidant about the stitches (back stitch, lazy daisy, and the french knot). It is calming and meditative, a nice way to spend an evening. And it's really a nice feeling to lay back after completing a number and see your hard work translated directly onto the canvas.

The kit was designed for both beginners and advanced stitchers. The instruction guide goes over each stitch if you need that and I'll be creating in dept tutorials on the blog detailing each stitch. I've been compiling some good little tips through the process.

My test subject was a complete rookie, but by the end of the 2012, he felt the urge to keep going and fill in the CuriousDoodles logo and fill in his families' birthday dates. Apparently he sped up as his stitching got better and he just couldn't stop.

Part of the reason why I am interested in making kits, is because there is a lack of modern/relevant designs for embroidery. Sure, there are loads of vintage embroidery patterns which I adore, but it is a bit of dying art that I would like to see come back. I combined modern typography with dense organic stitch work. I started with big helvetica block letters and filled them in with intertwined vine work creating a different read from across the room vs. up close-up. Check out my blog post with some of the early sketches/prototypes. I did several revisions to the design once I started stitching up prototypes to come up with a design that is appropriate for the capabilities of needlework.



The towel comes with a hang tab in the upper right corner for easy hanging.

The completed kit would be a wonderful keep sake gift for a new baby or a wedding. It also makes a wonderful gift for crafty friends and family (especially those you feel have a little too much time on their hands).

Progress Update: Stitching up the Tea Towel

I have been stitching ferociously the past few days trying to get this baby done. I'm almost there!

Printing Tea Towel Embroidery Kits

The tea towels have been screen printed. Hooray! Here are some shots of me at The Pull printing.
The printing process went fairly smoothly. The large format print was a little bit tricky, but we figured out a way to make it all work. Now its time to stitch it up. I'm excited to see the final project complete!

2012 Tea Towel Sneak Peak

Here are some snap shot of my progress on the design for the 2012 calendar tea towel. This year it will be an embroidery kit.

This is me sketching in my local coffee shop. I'm using helvetica as a guide for my lettering. The little circle blooms ended up not working out as well for embroidery so I changed the blooms to look like this.

I'm also testing which colors look best with the design in this shot.
Stay tuned for more progress shots.

2011 Tea Towel Calendar

My 2011 Calendar Tea Towels are availble in the shop and ready to ship.

I had fun packaging these towels up. It was very meditative and I like the way they turned out.

Yup, thats my kitchen! That sink is from the 1910s and is beautiful. I can't wait to start using my new tea towels to dry my dishes.



• Hand screen printed with water based inks: red & teal
• Printed on 100% Organic Cotton Tea Towel with a rolled hem
• Size: 28"x20"

2011 Screen Printed Calendar Tea Towels

Here is a sneak peak at my latest project, the 2011 holiday tea towel!

This weekend has really been a lot of trial and error. The first time I printed the tea towels, the ink instantly clogged in the screen leaving me very frustrated. I tried again the next morning with a slightly different set up, and it work beautifully.

After a lot of brainstorming for packaging ideas, I decided to go with the simple jute wrap with a little kraft tag. I thought about putting them in a clear ziplock, but I want people to be able to touch them. I also thought about doing a belly band, but the band went right through a critical part of the design, so I opted not to do that. I like the simplicity of my final solution.
Check out this beautiful red ink that's not clogging!