Ruffle Front Christmas Towel

I wanted to make a set of Christmas towels for my kitchen that were festive and easy. You may recall my ruffle front apron tutorial from almost exactly a year ago this time-well it became my inspiration for these towels.  They are really simple to make and super festive for the holidays coming up.

You will need:

flour sack towels (I got a pack of 2 at Walmart for $1.79 but you can get a 12 pack at Sam's Club for $12.98)

1 pot holder for each towel (I got a set of 2 at the dollar store)

Fabric ( I found a fat quarter pack at Walmart I believe it was)

 Begin by cutting 3 strips from each fabric that you want to use.  I decided to go with 3 different prints.  My lowest ruffle and the one I sew on first was 3 3/4" wide.  The second was 3 1/2" and the third was 3 1/4" wide.  Press these with an iron and then sew them end to end to make one long strip.

 If desired you can fold and hem them but I decided to just serge the edges.  I like how it looks and it is easy that way.  Which ever you choose-finish all your edges.

 Now on your towel mark with dashes a line where you will attach your ruffle.  Mine is 3 1/4" up from the bottom of the towel because I want my bottom ruffle to hang over the edge.  Spacing is really up to you.

 Normally I would just use my cheaters method for gathering but the towel fabric is too light weight in this case so I sewed a basting stitch along one end, pulled my strings to gather the fabric and then pinned it in place.  Next sew along the top edge of the ruffle.  Then repeat the same process with the remaining fabric strips making sure to overlap each ruffle slightly.

 When you fold your towel into thirds it should look pretty and frilly like this:

 Now with the towel still in thirds, fold the whole thing in half vertically and press with an iron to get a center crease.  Pin the towel layers together on this crease.

 Sew along the crease with a basting stitch.

 Pull the strings in order to gather the towel to be slightly narrower than your potholder.

 Fold the pot holder in half to find the center.  I ironed it to get sort of a crease line to use as a guide.  Pin the pot holder in place with the pattern side down and the loop hanger at the top like this:

 Sew along the pot holder.  If you look closer I didn't start at the exact edge of the pot holder but rather just inside the seam binding.  That is where the edges of my towel meet the pot holder-making the hanging holder part just a bit wider than the towel.

 It will look like this now.

 Finally sew a big button to the outside of the potholder on the ruffled side of the towel.  Then wrap the pot holder around your oven door handle, and wrap the loop hanger around the button.  DONE!!!

Pretty festive don't you think!!