In Austria we celebrate Mother’s Day upcoming Sunday. As a little Mother’s Day gift (also for myself) I made these trendy teatowels with a dip dye effect and a neon loop. They are easy to make and an eyecatcher for everyone’s kitchen!
You will need: plain white cotton teatowels, fabric dye in your favorite color, plastic tub, measuring jug, metal spoon, gloves, water, maybe a short piece cotton ribbon for a loop and a sewing machine
First launder your teatowels. You can do this by machine or hand.
Fill the tub with about 4 – 6 litres 40 – 60 °C (according to your fabric dye instructions) warm water. Fill the measuring jug with half a liter of warm water and mix up about a half table spoon (you won’t need more, otherwise the color gets too dark and the dip dye effect won’t work) of your fabric dye in it. Add a fifths of the dye solution into the plastic tub filled with water initially and stir up – this is your dye bath now. We want the top to be a lighter shade than the bottom. So for the first stage we’re working with a slightly weaker solution.
With your teatowels still wet submerge gently into the dye bath right up to the point where you want the lightest part of the dip dye effect to start and leave the rest of the teatowels (about a third of it) hanging outside the tub and untouched by the dye.
Wait a few minutes and gently pull the teatowels about 10 centimeters out of the dye solution. Add another fifths of the dye solutions into your dye bath and stir up. Wait a few minutes again and repeat this procedure until nothing of your dye solution is left.
Now rinse your teatowels thoroughly in warm, graduating to cold water until water runs clear.
Some fabric dyes call for fixing salt or a liquid fixing solution to become washable. Handle this according to your fabric dye’s instructions.
Hang to dry naturally. It will dry a few shades lighter so don’t worry if it looks too dark while it’s wet! Additionally you can sew on a loop as a little highlight. I used a neon yellow cotton ribbon.
If you would like to give them to your mom on Sunday, you can print these heart-shaped Mother’s Day gift tags I’ve created and add them to your present!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms out there!
