Patchwork, Please! :: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Towels

Do you ever have a "great" idea that doesn't go the way you anticipated? Of course. Well, that was my week with my Patchwork, Please project.

Ayumi's meal-time towels were such a good idea, but when I went to choose fabric, I realized I had no 100% linen, which I thought I would like for this particular project. So I went ahead and ordered some plain premade towels. Only problem? They were quite a bit smaller than what Ayumi suggests. So rather than use the enlarged letters I had already printed out, I copied them at the size shown in the book. Which is rather small. Not too small to read of course, but kind of small to stitch around. Trying to squeeze my project into an already-cramped week, I used white thread for all my letters, which I probably wouldn't do again, especially with these smaller letters. Oh well. And yes, I opted for letters only on my towel, as they pretty much filled up the center space.

So things didn't go quite as planned, and I stopped at one towel for now, BUT I must say, the binding technique for this project was quite enlightening for me, and a happy addition to my repertoire! I am a committed hand-binder, so to even consider doing it by machine was quite a stretch for me. But the way the binding is pressed off-set made all the difference, and I was really quite happy with the result. 

Am I converted? Probably not, as the hand method gives me so much pleasure. But I will definitely keep this method as a consideration for occasional use.

I loved the added accent of using ric-rac as a hanger, so I added that in.

So overall, I wasn't thrilled with my choice of base fabric, nor the size of my towel and letters, not even my choice of thread color. But I do love the scrappy dotted-ness, and would definitely give this project another go another time.

Meanwhile, it's a fun twist, and I'm calling it a wrap. On to next week!