How to Sew a Kitchen Towel

Sewing kitchen towels is a quick and easy project, and a great way to use up your fabric scraps. Make enough to restock your kitchen. Then, make a bunch more to give as gifts.

The Easiest Way to Sew Kitchen Towels

One of the perks of making your own kitchen towels is that you don’t have to settle for anything dinky. With that in mind, these instructions make a generous 18″ x 30″ towel. If you prefer a different size, just cut your fabric two-inches longer and wider than you want your finished towel to be.

I picked up this bundle of blue fabric at a church rummage sale a while back, and decided to turn it into kitchen towels. I also found a creative way to use up some fabric that had been sitting around for too long. Be sure to read to the end of the post, to see what I did.

What You’ll Need:

A 20″ x 30″ piece of fabric (cotton, linen or another absorbent fabric)
Thread
A ruler
Scissors
Sewing pins or sewing clips
A sewing machine (This is the machine that I have)

Optional (but nice to have):

An air or water-soluble marker
A self-healing cutting mat
A rotary cutter (This is the one I have)

What You Do:

Lay the fabric on your work surface, right-side facing down.

Fold the long sides in 1/2 inch. Then, fold them in another 1/2 inch, and pin or clip in place, to create your hem.

Stitch a 1/4-inch seam to secure both hems.

Then, repeat the process on the short sides, and you’ve made your first towel! See? Told you it was easy.

I have a big pile of white fabric that I hardly ever dip into, so I sewed up a bunch of white kitchen towels and cloth napkins, and experimented with Shibori tie-dye techniques.