A whimsical Christmas tree dishtowel

Using the same basic construction as outlined in my playful dishtowel tutorial, I sewed up another dishtowel especially for the season.

First, I gathered fabrics and trims. The Christmasy fabric in the bottom left hand corner was the inspiration for the other colors in my fabric palette.

After I settled on fabrics, I drew my basic design. The simple pattern shapes are meant to compliment fabrics that have a little more going on.

Laying the pattern pieces aside, both edges of the dish towel received a fancy border. I also added a red ribbon to conceal the edges of the ruffle trim. (BTW the red ribbon seen in the finished hand towel replaced the originally selected brown trim in the fabric collecting picture...and while it may have been easier to just take a new photo of what ended up being the final fabrics/trims, I thought proof of changes mid-project was comforting. Sewing is nothing to sweat about. And I can say that now that I've been sewing for almost a whole year. ; )

Now the fun part...the canvas of the piece. I used fusible web to attach the pattern pieces to the towel and then zigzag-stitched around the shapes.

And that's it. This is an easy project to add a touch of Christmas whimsy to the kitchen or to make as a last minute gift....but maybe not to use to clean up after reindeer cupcakes.