Sew your own DIY dishtowels or cloth napkins using just one Fat Quarter of fabric. There are so many yarn-dyed woven fabrics available right now in the quilting world that have a slightly heavier weight than regular quilting cotton making them perfect for sewing your own dishtowels and cloth napkins. I sewed some up in pretty fall colors for my own kitchen and I thought I'd show you just how easy they are to make!

How to sew a Dishtowel or Cloth Napkin

Supplies

For each small dishtowel, or cloth napkin, you will need at least one Fat Quarter of fabric or larger depending on the size you want to make. A Fat quarter will make a dishtowel that finishes at about 21" x 17". If you want a larger dishtowel use more fabric and cut it to your desired size adding a 1/2" to each side for seam allowances.

What is a Fat Quarter?

A fat quarter is a 1/4 yard of fabric that is cut in a large rectangle (about 18" x 22") instead of a long 9" x 44" strip, like you would get when cutting a 1/4 yard from a bolt of fabric. To cut a fat quarter, you start with a 1/2 Yard of fabric cut from the bolt, then open up the fold and cut the piece of fabric in half along the fold line.

It's easy to cut your own fat quarter from a 1/2 yard of fabric if you can't find the fabric you are looking for in a precut Fat Quarter.

Where to buy Yarn-dyed Woven Fabric

Fableism is a small fabric manufacturer that creates a variety of yarn-dyed woven fabrics. You cannot buy directly from them unless you have a wholesale account but you can purchase 1/2 yard and 1 yard cuts from a lot of online stores. I like to go the Fableism website to choose the fabric I'm looking for and then search online for that specific fabric. On the Fableism website for each fabric listing you will see a "gsm" (grams per square meter) measurement for each fabric in the fabric details. Typical quilting cotton fabric ranges from 120 - 170 gsm. The larger the number, the heavier the weight and thickness of the fabric. For example this Mosaic in Sweet fabric has a 210 gsm. When choosing fabric for a dishtowel or napkin I recommend ordering something with a little higher gsm if possible. I purchase my fabric from the Wild Hare Haberdashery on Etsy.

Other yarn-dyed woven options are Garden Variety Yarn-Dyed Wovens from Anna Maria Textiles or Essex Yarn-dye Classic Wovens from Robert Kaufman On these website the fabric weight is measured in ounces per square yard. Typical quilting cotton is usually about 4-5 oz per square yard. Warp and Weft by Ruby Star Society are also an option but they tend to be lighter weight, maybe more suitable for cloth napkins than dishtowels

Instructions

Pre wash your fabric

Yarn-dyed woven fabric tends to shrink a little more than typical quilting cotton. For best results pre wash your fabric before cutting it to size

Cut your fabric to your desired size

Press the wrinkles out of your fabric using steam and a mist of spray. Cut the fabric to your desired size. I'm using a 1/2 yard cut. I folded the piece so it was a double layer and then cut off the fraying edges in the largest rectangle I could make so I had 2 rectangles from 1 half yard.

Hem the Dishtowel or Cloth Napkin

Starting with the 2 longest sides, fold over the raw edge about 1/4" and press.

Fold it over a second time and press. Use binding clips or pins to hold the hem in place.

Topstitch along the folded edge. I like to use a 3.5 stitch length.

Fold the short sides over twice in the same fashion. If the fabric is too bulky at the corners, trim a little off the corner at the first quarter inch fold before folding it over a second time.

Topstitch across the short sides.

And that's it!! Fresh linen in your kitchen is the best!!

Let me know if you make some and if you have any other tips for what fabric to use, leave them in the comments below! I'd love for you to help me pin my tutorials so more people can find them!

Happy Sewing!