Tea Towel Gift Pairings

Bottle gift wrapped with Orange, Orange, Lemon, Lime tea towel by Lellobird

Spoonflower has 50% off on fat quarters for the next week (through November 8) – which means this is the perfect time to scoop up some tea towels for holiday gifting.

Better yet, pair your tea towels with a book, plant, baked goods or another item and use the towel as an eco-friendly wrapping – you’ll save the paper, and it’s like getting two gifts in one. Plus, if you start now, you might actually have time to sew up the towels before the holidays (unless you’re a really champion procrastinator like me, and then you’ll be hemming the night before your gift exchange).

With all the tea towel choices out there, you can find something that pairs with almost any gift idea or recipient – the hardest part may be choosing which one to use! (Or giving it away!)

Tea towels pair naturally with food- and kitchen-themed gifts, but anything small-ish will fit – here are some of my favorite ideas:

Plant gift wrapped with Windowsill tea towel by Lellobird

Bottle gift wrapped with Orange, Orange, Lemon, Lime tea towel by Lellobird

Cookbook gift wrapped with Bakers Gonna Bake tea towel by Lellobird

Jar of honey gift wrapped with Honeycomb tea towel by Lellobird

Book gift wrapped with Jane's Words tea towel by Lellobird

Speaking of furoshiki, there are a ton more furoshiki ideas, plus instructions for hemming your towels, on the My Poppet website.

I put together a Pinterest board with examples of all the above uses plus a few more – check it out here.

Happy gifting!

In the wild: Otter blanket

Weighted blanket by Weighted Works with Significant Otters fabric

As you know if you read my posts or follow me on Instagram, I love to see what people make from my designs! Melinda of Weighted Works recently sent me a photo of a weighted blanket made with my Significant Otters fabric on the front and minky on the back – just looking at it makes me want to crawl under it and take a nap!

According to Weighted Works, weighted blankets can help users feel more calm and relaxed, and can help manage the symptoms of insomnia, restless leg syndrome, autism, PTSD, nervous system disorders and anxiety.

Oddly enough, I actually noticed this effect the other day at the dentist’s office, when they put the lead apron on me for some x-rays – it felt so nice I got a little sleepy, which is saying a lot given how much I hate going to the dentist. Maybe I should have asked if I could wear it for the whole visit…

Tea (towel) time

Fiesta Calendar by Lellobird, available at Spoonflower

It’s that time of year again: Fall is ramping up, the year is winding down, and you need a tea towel calendar to help brighten up your kitchen in 2016!

Spoonflower is running their annual 2-for-1 Fat Quarter sale today through Thursday, November 12, which means you can stock up on half-price tea towels that just need a quick hem to become beautiful, practical, sort-of-handmade gifts. Chilly fall days are perfect for sewing!

I have six tea towels for sale this year, or you can turn any fat quarter of fabric into a towel, too.

Bee Towel Calendar
Bird Talk Original
Bird Talk Autumn
Bird Talk Summer (coming soon)
Folk Tree Tea Towel
Fiesta Calendar (coming soon)

Calendar time

Photo detail of Bee Towel tea towel calendar by Lellobird

Up until a year or two ago, I’d never heard of a tea towel calendar – a calendar with a pretty design printed on fabric. Thanks to Spoonflower’s annual tea towel calendar contest, I’m now in the know.  The idea of something that marks the year and helps dry the dishes appeals to my practical side!

This year I have three 2015 tea towel calendars available at Spoonflower: Bee Towel (pictured), Bird Talk and Bird Talk Original. There are a lot of fun calendar designs by other designers available, too – I’ll bet you can find one that matches your interests and your kitchen.

Matching kitchens reminds me of one of my most interesting requests on Spoonflower: A woman who was designing a steampunk time travel themed kitchen and wanted a sepia-toned version of my popular Time Travel Map fabric for curtains. I love the amount of time they put into coming up with a vision and a backstory for their kitchen — awesome!

Other special requests have come from people making quilts, custom lampshades, curtains for vintage Airstream trailers — it’s always a kick to see what people make with my designs.