Decorate Guest Towels

If you have house-guests, you want to welcome them by making your home as lovely as possible. This usually involves cleaning, meal-planning, and decorating the guest room. Add a little something extra to your guest bathroom by acquiring good towels and decorating them to match your style. With these directions, you will learn how to fold towels attractively, and add additional decorations or imagery, to make them complement the welcoming air of your home.

Steps

Folding Towels Decoratively

1. Start with high-quality towels. The best towels are 100% cotton and feel heavy when you pick them up. If it’s important to you, pick out towels that echo colors in your bathroom, or add a pleasing pop of color. For instance, if the bathroom has black and white tiling, a leaf-green towel would stand out in a pretty way.
2. Launder the towels before use. For all these projects, you want your towels to be as clean and stable as possible. Wash the towels to see if any fading or shrinkage occurs. Use warm water and mild detergent, and avoid fabric softener or dryer sheets.
3. Make a towel fan. If you’re just getting started with decorative folding, a hand towel fan on top of a plain bath towel is easy and pretty. To start, fold the bath towel in half lengthwise, then fold it into thirds in the opposite direction. It should make a plump square shape. Next, take the hand towel and fold it lengthwise into one-inch accordion pleats. Crease the pleated towel in half so it makes a v-shape, lay it on top of the bath towel, and tease the ends apart to it to create a fan shape.
4. Try a towel pocket. If you have a towel rack in the bathroom, you can level up. Combine a bath, hand, and face towel into one attractive package by folding the hand towel into a pocket shape and placing the washcloth inside it.
   • Start by folding a bath towel into thirds lengthwise.
   • Place it on the rack with the rod in the middle, so both sides hang down equally.
   • Lay a hand towel on the floor with the right side up and tag side down.
   • Fold the bottom up so it reaches halfway up the towel, then fold the bottom edge down again so it’s level with the first fold. This makes a kind of “shelf” shape.
   • Flip the hand towel over, so the shelf faces down.
   • Fold the hand towel into folds vertically. It should be in more of a sausage-shape now, with a pocket running along the bottom edge.
   • Lay the hand towel over the bath towel so the pocket hangs down in front.
   • Fold a face towel into a mini-fan, then tuck it into the pocket.
5. Make a swan. Are you feeling fancy? Use origami techniques to fold a big bath towel into a swan. This is especially nice if you have two guests in the same room, as you can set the swans on the bed so that they are looking at each other.
   • Lay a towel so the long side is horizontal.
   • Take the top two corners, and fold them towards each other. Now the towel will be in a pentagon shape, with a point at the top. The short sides should lay against each other.
   • Roll each of the top diagonal edges towards one another. This should turn the towel into a rolled arrow shape.
   • Take the head of the arrow and bend it back towards the tails of the arrow. Then bend the tip of it down. In profile, this will look like a Z-shape.
   • (Opt.) Fold a washcloth into a fan and put it between the “wings” for a tail.

Adding Appliques and Accents

1. Sew on decorative hems. If you have towels with plain indented borders (sometimes called a dobby weave), then you can stitch on a thin line of contrasting fabric. This makes a subtle and pretty decoration, uses up fabric scraps, and is easy to do.
   • Prewash the towels and the fabric you’re using. Otherwise, when you wash them, they might pucker strangely.
   • Cut two one-inch strips of fabric the width of a towel, adding an extra inch in length for seam allowance.
   • Using an iron, turn over a quarter-inch of fabric at the short sides of the rectangles. Then turn over another half-inch and iron again. This should give neat finished edges to the sides of the decorative strip.
   • Now turn over a quarter-inch of fabric along the length of both sides of a strip. This should result in a half-inch strip of folded fabric.
   • Pin the fabric to the plain border on one side of the towel with the right side be facing out. The fabric should be right in the middle of the plain border--probably a quarter inch from each edge, if it’s a standard one-inch border. Use a seam gauge to make sure the fabric is straight.
   • Whipstitch the cloth neatly to the towel along each edge.
2. Add pre-made decorative accents. If you don’t have any scrap fabric to add to the towel, you can go out and purchase decorative trims instead. When looking at trims, it’s best to choose ones that are sturdy and made of the same fabric composition as your towels, so the towels will be easy to wash. Of course, you still need to pre-wash trims and towels before application.
   • Cording is a simple, narrow trim. It should be easy to attach with a single whipstitch.
   • Rickrack is a zig-zagging trim that adds a retro or rural charm to towels.
   • Lace can be fancy or homey. Whatever style you choose, sturdy cotton lace, like eyelet or Cluny, is best. Avoid anything too delicate.
3. Embroider your towels. If you have a lot of experience with machine embroidery, you can apply this knowledge to your guest towels. If you don’t know how to machine embroider, towels are probably not the best medium to learn on. Cross-stitch is very doable, however.
   • Start with towels with an embroiderable inset, which are available at well-stocked craft or embroidery stores. Pick up a few colors of cotton embroidery thread and a pack of embroidery needles, as well.
   • Find a pattern you like. You can find patterns in books, but they’re also available on cross-stitch sites, or DIY and social media sites like Pinterest.
   • Transfer the pattern to the towel’s embroiderable section, and cross stitch away. Make sure to tie knots off securely, since you’ll be running the towels through the wash.
4. Apply an applique. If you want to monogram your towels, or customize them with a simple shape like a heart or star, think about applique. With this technique, you apply a contrasting fabric patch to the towel and stitch it down securely. It requires a bit more patience, but the results are worth it. You’ll need decorative cotton fabric, fusible interfacing, tailor’s chalk, and a needle and thread.
   • Prewash both the towel and the fabric you want to apply. This will save the finished design from weird bunching and puckering.
   • Find a stencil for a letter or shape that appeals to you.
   • Peel the backing off the interfacing, then lay the wrong side of the cotton fabric against the bumpy side of the interfacing. Run a hot iron along the right side of the cotton fabric. This should make the interfacing stick to the fabric, strengthening it.
   • Trace your chosen shape onto the right side of fabric, using the tailor’s chalk.
   • Using a sewing machine or a needle and thread, make a running stitch on top of the traced lines. This will help stabilize them.
   • Cut out the letter or shape, being careful to cut close to the stabilizing stitches.
   • Pin the shape to the towel in the correct place. Satin stitch around the edge to attach it.

Bleaching and Dyeing

1. Use bleach or dye to stencil. If you like the idea of a big simple shape to decorate the towel, but don’t want to sew, you can stencil a shape on instead. You’ll need a stencil, tape, spray bottle, and dye or bleach that will contrast with your towel’s color. (In general, use dye for light towels, and bleach for dark ones.)
   • Pick out a stencil you like. You can print shapes onto cardstock and then cut around the edge to make a stencil, if you don’t have a pre-made stencil that excites you.
   • Tape your stencil to the towel.
   • Fill a spray bottle with fabric dye or undiluted clothing bleach.
   • Spray bleach or dye through the stencil.
   • Wait a few minutes for the chemicals to develop on the towel. If you want a stronger color, spray more on.
   • Wash the towel after the stencil dries. Be careful not to wash it with anything that could be damaged by extra bleach or dye.
2. Bleach-paint an image. If you want even more control over the imagery on the towel, you can use clothing bleach to paint on a word or design. This creates a beautiful and artsy appearance, and it’s quite easy. You’ll need chalk, gloves, bleach, a paintbrush, and dark-colored towels.
   • Sketch out your design in chalk.
   • Put on your gloves. Now, using a paintbrush or foam brush, apply fabric bleach to the fabric on top of the chalk. You may have to wiggle the brush to drive the bleach into the pile of the towel.
   • Let the bleach develop, then wash the towel.
   • Breathe safe! If you’re working with bleach, make sure you’re in a well-ventilated area, wear gloves, and take breaks if you feel woozy.
3. Add an ombre border. You can achieve a trendy image by dip-dying the tips of a towel. You’ll need light-colored towels, RIT dye, gloves, salt, a hanger, newspapers, and a bucket or tub that you can stain with no repercussions.
   • Put on the gloves, so you don’t end up with purple hands.
   • Prepare a dye bath according to the package directions. This may require a surprising amount of table salt.
   • Wet the towel. Fold it in half and hang it over the hanger so that both ends are even.
   • Dip the tips of the towel into bath, and let them soak for 5-10 minutes.
   • Hang the towel to dry with its ends positioned over a pad of newspapers (to avoid staining the floor). Don’t let the dyed parts touch anything.
   • Wash the towel according to the dye’s package directions.
4. Tie-dye the towel. For extra fun for young guests, tie-dyed towels are great. This is a project with an improvisational flavor, so you can even invite kids to help. You will need light-colored towels, rubber bands, a tie-dye kit, newspapers, and a bucket or tarp.
   • Use the rubber bands to create a base pattern for the towel--there will be white stripes wherever the bands were. Bind the towel into sections for a striped design, or pull and tie off small corners to make starbursts.
   • Get the towel wet in the sink, then squeeze out excess water.
   • Place the towel in a bucket or on a tarp and squirt dye onto it. Don’t be dainty--it’s more fun if it’s colorful.
   • Carefully remove the bands from the towel (you might want to wear gloves for this step), and let the towel dry flat on a thick pad of newspapers.
   • Wash according to the kit’s directions.

Tips

• Recycle fabrics for this project.
• Avoid metallic trims, as they do not launder well.
• Use towels as gifts or for sale at a fundraisers.
• Use the same techniques to decorate tea towels.
• Towel folding is influenced by origami, the Japanese art of paper-folding, but the flexible, thick qualities of towels make them quite different from paper. There’s a bit of a learning curve, so don’t give up!

Warnings

• Use caution with hot or sharp tools, such as an irons, scissors, and needles.

Things You'll Need

• Plain towels
• Decorative fabric
• Seam gauge
• Tape Measure
• Scissors
• Needle
• Matching thread
• Common pins
• Sewing machine (optional)
• Iron
• Decorative trims
• RIT dye
• Tie-dying kit
• Embroidery floss
• Fusible interfacing
• Bleach
• Spray bottle
• Paintbrush
• Patterns and stencils

Related Articles

• Make New Towels More Absorbent
• Identify and Choose High Quality Bath Towels
• Remove Mildew Smell from Towels
• Choose Bathroom Towel Colors

Sources and Citations

See also

• Be a Good House Guest
• Fold a Towel Dog
• Handle House Guests That Stay Too Long
• Fold a Towel Elephant
• Host an Exchange Student
• Be a Good Host
• Evict a Roommate
• Fold a Towel Swan
• Fold a Towel Monkey
• Avoid Offending Uninvited Guests

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• Fold a Towel Elephant
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• Decorate a Classroom
• Decorate a Small Bathroom
• Dry Clothes Outside
• Enjoy Cleaning and Housework
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