Going Green with Monaluna: How to sew a tea towel with a hanging loop

Day four of learning ways we can use our sewing skills to reduce waste inside our home, and we are going to learn how to sew tea towels. I know what you are thinking. Tea towels are not really a way one thinks of reducing waste. Cloth napkins and reusable food wraps and reusable snack bags, sure, of course! But how does sewing tea towels help go green?

(Don’t let that picture fool you. I have dirty dishes in that sink.)

Sewing your own tea towels puts use to the ever growing scrap pile.

This reduces the amount of scraps that could end up being tossed out. It’s also a form of recycling because we are able to use scraps from other projects, or even past projects that have gotten stained or holes in them and cut them up and give them new life! Also, these tea towels can reduce your laundry. That’s correct. They are MAGIC tea towels. “How?”, you ask? They have a hanging loop that allows you to wrap the towel around the towel bar, oven handle, or cabinet handle that prevents the towel from ending up on the floor and getting stepped on and kicked around. And if you are like me, once that towel hits the floor, it’s no longer suitable for drying clean hands and dishes and it ends up in the hamper. (or maybe I’m alone on that one?) Less laundry means less water being used. It also means more sewing time. 😉

Supplies you will need:

• Half yard of cotton woven fabric. I used Monaluna’s organic cotton double gauze.
• 7″ of 1/2″ wide twill tape or ribbon
• Basic sewing supplies

You can decide what size tea towel you prefer. I sewed two different sizes. I like larger towels for drying dishes and smaller towels for wiping my fingers off while I cook.

Cut your fabric to size. I recommend 22″ x 29″ for a traditional size tea towel and 22″ square for a smaller tea towel.

Press the sides under 1/2″.

Press the sides over to the wrong side again, encasing the raw edges.

On the cloth napkins we made yesterday, I showed you how to do a mitered corner. Double gauze can be a bit shifty due to the loose weave of the threads, so I am just leaving the corners folded over for my tea towels.

Again, gauze is shifty, so don’t be afraid to use a lot of pins or clips to hold the hems in place!

Now it’s time to add our hanger! Form a loop with your twill tape. In the middle of one side (use a short side if sewing the standard size tea towel.), slip your twill tape under the hem and pin in place.

Topstitch the hem in place.

That’s all there is to it! Between the food wraps, snack bags, napkins and now tea towels, you will really be able to put those scraps of fabric to use!

I love having coordinating towels for when I’m feeling fancy pants. I always have at least two towels being used throughout the day and having cheery looking towels can brighten up dull chores like dishes.

Going Green with Monaluna

Day One: How to sew reusable food wraps

Day Two: How to sew reusable snack bags

Day Three: How to sew cloth napkins