Embroidered Tulip Tea Towel

Create functional art with this folksy tulip embroidery pattern!

Posted by Beth C.

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Stitch this repeating tulip pattern as a border on a blank tea towel, while also learning how to use the chain stitch as a fill stitch!

The chain stitch is a beginner-friendly stitch that is often used for outlines, but can be used to fill a shape as well. This tulip motif provides you with simple shapes to practice stitching and you can display your work on a tea towel, table runner, pillow or other home decor.

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You Will Need (7 things)

  • 4 in Round Embroidery Hoop
  • 6-Strand Cotton Embroidery Floss
  • Size 5 Embroidery Needle
  • Erasable Fabric Pen
  • Embroidery Scissors
  • Blank Cotton Tea Towel
  • Dritz Fray Check (or similar product)

Steps (6 steps, 240 minutes)

  1. 1

    If you will be embroidering on an item that will be washed, be sure to launder it first so it does any shrinking before you embroider it.

  2. 2

    Download the repeating tulip embroidery pattern above.

  3. 3

    Print out your tulip pattern and trace it with an erasable fabric pen onto your tea towel. Tip: tape the pattern and tea towel to a bright window for easier tracing.

  4. 4

    Stretch the tea towel in your embroidery hoop and make sure it's taut, then stitch your tulips according to the pattern's instructions. Tip: For video tutorials of the various stitches, visit http://www.bethcolletti.com/videos

  5. 5

    When you are finished stitching, rinse out the marks from the erasable fabric pen according to the pen's instructions. Rather than ringing out the tea towel, gently blot out excess water and lay it flat to dry.

  6. 6

    Once dry, turn over the tea towel so you are looking at the back of the stitches and use Fray Check on the ends of the embroidery floss to secure your stitches for laundering. Once the Fray Check is dry, the tea towel is ready to use!