Handmade Gift Idea #2

Lately I've been infatuated with vintage grain sacks. I see them everywhere online--purses, pillows, and furniture upholstered with these beautiful sacks. Unfortunately, the price is not right. Way too expensive. SO, I found this idea where you make your own. This is with that lovely Osnaburg cotton I've been mentioning. You have to get the unbleached, natural kind. It's perfect for this type of thing and looks quite authentic if you ask me. I've been in the process of making pillow/chair pad covers for my DI rocking chair makeover but haven't yet sewn them. I'm using the blue stripes (in the pictures below) for that project--I thought it would look nice and clean with the now off-white rocker. But for my kitchen, it's red, red, wet-your-bed, so of course that's what I used!

This gift idea is for handmade grain sack kitchen towels. To make the stripes I simply used some packing tape, a ruler, some fabric paint (any color-red, blue, green, charcoal gray), and a stencil brush. You can use any pattern of stripes that you want. Did you know that the stripes had the original purpose of identifying whose grain sacks belonged to who? Everyone had their own design and even sometimes monogrammed their sacks.

I'm a beginning sewer, so my directions may not be that great but hopefully you can understand them if you want to try this yourself. So when you get your fabric, of course wash it first. You should then iron it, but I almost like the little wrinkles in it. Anyway, My thicker stripes are 1/4 inch thick and the thinner stripes are 1/8 inch thick, with a spacing in between of 1/8 inch. My finished towel size is approximately 15 x 24 inches, so plan for 1/2-3/4 inch seem allowance (I double folded the edges on the back to make nice and neat). It's not perfect, but that's what I love about it. It makes it seem even more authentic. So measure things out and use your packing tape to block off your stripe. Gently pat with stencil brush and paint (my kids love this part). Don't gob too much on. It will soak through and you don't want that. I even like to do it unevenly so that it's not all one solid stripe, it has a little variation in the color.

I immediately take the tape off. The paint dries really fast. I wait about 10 minutes then block off another stripe and do the same as above. Once all your stripes are done and dry, with some natural colored thread sew the edges. I used my iron first and folded the edges over 1/4 inch (or a little more) and ironed them down. Then I went around again and folded the edges over another 1/4 inch and ironed down. I then sewed the edges. So simple and so cute!

I'm very pleased with the results. These would be cute wrapped around a small loaf of pumpkin bread and tied with twine, or wrapped around a book, or any gift that would fit inside. Or of course you could always use "The Towel" poem and attach that to it. I'm addicted to these. After I finish my pillows for the rocker I'm going to make an oblong pillow to go on the bench at the kitchen table and then a table runner for the kitchen table. Can't wait. It's so fun to create. (PS-the stripes look a little wavy in the pictures--it's just how the fabric was hanging, I'm really not THAT sloppy!)