New Style of Hand Towel

A week ago my MIL sent me a link to an etsy store (The Spunky Diva) that had really cool Stay-Put hand towels for the kitchen. After thoroughly examining all of her pictures, I decided to attempt making one myself!

One corner is monogrammed. On the opposite corner and opposite side of the towel, I appliqued a fabric square and stitched an "L" shaped opening.

I digitized the "L" shaped opening, so that was done by embroidery machine. It's kind of like a big button hole... once it was done stitching I cut it open. Worked nicely!

For the monogram I picked the Heart A Plenty font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! And it has already passed the Dashiell test. This afternoon he ran up to it, gave it a hug, called it "cute" and then yanked with all his might. It certainly lived up to it's name -- it stayed put! :) No more towels on the floor, woo-hoo! And amazingly enough, it stays put when I use it, too. I have a bad habit of taking a towel off of the rod and tossing it aside, then the next time I need to dry my hands, I'm hunting for a towel.

Before sharing pictures I searched through the Spunky Diva blog to see if she had posted a tutorial to direct you to. I also sent her a quick email to let her know I was going to be blogging about her fantastic towels, and she replied so quickly! Turns out she was inspired by the Topsy Towel tutorial on Embroidery Library. (Edited 1/21/13 to add: AND I just discovered that years ago someone else digitized the L-shaped buttonhole and posted it as a freebie on SewForum! I have not used that design, but check it out.)

Go check out her blog, lots of fun stuff! My favorite post is a tutorial for kitchen curtains I found back in September. Now, I've make valances before, but what I loved was the FABRIC! I've been searching for the perfect fabric to make curtains for my kitchen (we have now lived here 2.5 years, it's about time...) and I think this is it. I am proud to say I have finally ordered it and I'm anxious for it to arrive. So thank you, Kimberlee, for inspiring new decor in my kitchen, in two different ways!! :)  I'll post pictures once I make a curtain AND matching Stay-Put towels!