Janel's post on Mrs. Meyers' booth at the 2008 Home and Housewares Show reminded us of our love for kitchen linens. We're suckers for patterned dish towels, which we like to use as guest cloths in the bathroom. Click below for 7 more ideas (besides drying dishes)...
1) Keep them in the bathroom as guest towels. We like the patterns and textures of tea towels in the bathroom for drying your hands.
2) Use them as placemats or napkins. A set of color-coordinated tea towels in various patterns brings new life to a table setting.
3) Line shelves inside cabinets. Tea towels on kitchen cabinet shelves can absorb excess water from freshly dried glasses. Just remember to take the towels out and wash them every once in a while.
4) Sew throw pillows. See Martha Stewart for the how-to.
5) Use them to keep rolls hot. To serve warm bread, my mom lines a basket with a tea towel and covers the bread to keep it from cooling.
6) Line a tea tray. This is the original use for tea towels, hence the name. They were designed to absorb spills when serving tea.
7) Wrap a gift. A present wrapped in a tea towel gives the recipient two gifts, and creates reusable packaging.
8) Make a table runner. Sew a set of tea towels end-to-end to make a patchwork table runner.
Other ideas?
Photo: Xochi Santa Fe
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I have used them to cover my mixer and my food processor, to keep out dust when they had to live on the counter.
And I used them as kitchen curtains--I used clip-on rings and slid them on a tension rod.
view Joan A.'s profile
a) tie it as a bandana.
b) can be used to wrap the hard cover of a journal/file folder or glue it on to the magazine holder - provides boring things look attractive.
c) wrap around a vase for extra color when there are no flowers.
d) bright colored tea towerl can be wrapped around a photo frame to add a zing to the room.
view BlackandWhite's profile
We use them as napkins, and I was delighted last night when we went to a fancy schmancy restaurant to find there that the napkins set at our places were also tea towels! And not really elegant, rich ones - just cotton with a green line. It made us feel like we were in for some seriously good dinner, and that turned out to be true.
view cakekick's profile
I think tea towels like these http://www.2jane.com/detail.aspx?ID=278 are suitable for displaying as art, whether framed or just tacked to the wall as is.
view kate333's profile
tea towels mounted on stretcher bars (like you use to make a canvas) are perfect art for a humid bathroom: they dont warp and can easily be taken apart and washed. their texture also nicely complements bathroom linens... you can also do this to display vintage scarves...
view bridge's profile
Hell yes on suggestion #7! For years, I've used fabric, tea towels, and even vintage pillowcases to wrap gifts! I love it - it seems so personalized and luxurious. My aunt and I have a tradition around this; we wrap all of our presents to each other this way, then incorporate the wrapping fabric into a handmade gift for the giver. Hooray!
view katiebug's profile
you can make an easy kitchen valance by draping them across some string on a diagonal.
view barnicle's profile
Make an apron.
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.0e0eb51a2e6b5ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=e8e12e912b11f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=apron&rsc=header_9
view ohjodi's profile