Even More Uses for a Tea Towel - Your Ideas

The Kickstarter is over! Phew! First of all thank you for all your support, especially to all the people who shared, pledged and generally pushed me along, lifted me up and made me laugh on this crazy journey! Here's a great big Thanks for you all! W ebeat our target and are a whopping 378% funded! Eep!

Secondly I know some people had issues with the Kickstarter platform so I have set up a Rainbow Doodle Birds Shop here:

Rainbow Doodle Birds Shop

So anyone who wants can preorder tea towels and mugs and add birds to their orders too. I can't offer the exclusive rewards here unfortunately but if you contact me I'll see what I can do.

 

So I had lots of ideas of how to use a tea towel but my favourite was making the little pocket buddies and lavender bags! I asked for your ideas and you supplied them! Thanks for that! I know I'm a little late with this blog post but I did underestimate how busy the last 2 days would be! Thanks for bearing me!

Lottiepinkarthurblue made by Laura had the idea for make-shift aprons for when you leave the kid's ones at nanna's house. She also suggested that they would make fab cushion covers and
Katie Pinson said " I'd love one to sew into an extra large cushion!"


Sarah Box said "I make them into crafters pinnies great for craft fairs, Bootsales etc holding money or have sold them to hold gardening tools, crotchet hooks and paintbrushes xx" Great Idea!


Melanie Avis said "I would never use them as tea towels, I would cut them and make pretty bags out of them. They are too pretty to get grubby!" Thanks Melanie

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh suggested a tea towel fight! (They didn't specify if they should be wet or dry for this... wet would produce a great snap!

Duncan Gbf Mason had a suggestion along this theme "They make the best emergency pirate bandanas for those impromptu spoon fights in the kitchen waiting for the pasta to boil..." They do... we tried it! They do fit!

Tash 'Orange' Hill suggested  fold into a chicken as a table decoration! So we had a look and you can find lots of napkin folding tutorials on the internet that will work with a tea towel too!

Aleks C Zglińska said "mine is fabric for rainbow tweet bunting"! I love this idea

Cristina Cat "tea towel bread "pillow" case to keep the bread safe!" (I meant to this one but I ate all my bread!)

Rachelle Borbely "Comforter" for doll beds! 

Cat McLaughlin said "Sew two together to make a tote bag"


I can't wait to see what you all do with your tea towels! Please feel free to send me your pictures on Facebook when you get your tea towels... at the moment I'm estimating that we should get them mid July and all rewards should be posted out shortly afterwards so people should start getting their tea towels, mugs and Kickstarter rewards late July/ early August!

I'm around to answer questions, take orders and generally post lots of pictures of birds over the next couple of weeks but once the tea towels arrive I'll be shutting down for a couple of weeks to process all the rewards. I'll keep you posted. 

Thanks
Mel 

50 Ways To Use a Tea Towel - The Final Installment

Ok so I know you have been following this exciting tea towel adventure with great anticipation... will she do it? What will she do next? But I am sorry to say that this is the final installment of 50 ways to use a tea towel!

46. Make a pencil case (there would be lovely spiffy photos of step by step stuff but my sewing machine decided that it would make a horrible noise and throw up on the fabric half way through so I did a lot of swearing while taking the thing apart and then putting it back together again, then unpicking and re sewing so you'll have to work this one out yourself. Clue: it involves a zip!)

47. Make a pocket buddy in fact you could make 16 of them, one in every colour, then they would match every outfit you have!

All you need to do is cut out your bird, sew it, wrong sides facing to some spiffy fabric (I used these nice Cath Kidston scraps that I have been hoarding) leaving a gap so you can stuff it with stuffing. Turn it right way round, stuff with stuff and carefully sew the gap closed.

48. Make a lavender bag/hanging decoration, same as above just add a hanging tag and lavender if you want a smelly bird.

49. Applique patches on to your bag/jacket/boyfriends work trousers/kids clothes.

50. Run a kickstarter! 30 days, 50 ways to use a tea towel, 150 backers (at last count) it's been fun... and exhausting but mostly fun! There are just 2 days left to grab your Kickstarter rewards. Thank you to everyone who has put up with me acting like a crazy person, backed, shared, given me cake and wine and coffee to keep me going!

You can add your idea on how to use a tea towel to this post on facebook or comment here and I shall be doing a special blog post with all your ideas soon.

Thanks for reading
X
Mel

 

50 Ways To Use a Tea Towel - The Crafty Edit

So it has been noted that my lovely doodle birds tea towel is far too nice to dry you dishes with and if you don't want to hang it on your wall, wear it like a hat or use it for first aid then why not make something lovely with it?

I've scoured the internet for free patterns and tutorials to find some great projects and free instructables you could use to make something amazing with your doodle birds tea towel!

37. Make a nice apron... ok so there are 2 ways you can do this you could simply grab a belt (like Babble suggests) and improvise an apron (if for example you found a giant spider living in the pocket of your regular apron and had to take it into the garden while screaming and then never speak of it again, ture story!)

38. Follow this pattern/instructable from Fyne Designs to make an apron in just 10 minutes (or maybe 20 for the cak handed amonst us!) it involves a little sewing but as a beginners project it's a pretty simple idea.

39. You could buy loads and make a lovely table cloth! Or just 3 and make a table runner... if you want to get all fancy then why not mix it up with one or two doodle birds tea towels and some pretty stripy ones from the pound shop in coordinating colours. Here's a pattern to show you how.

40. You could make a fancy bag! So you could sew 2 together to make a giant tote bag, just ad some handles or you could follow this tutorial and make a cute drawstring bag, I had one like this for my pumps in PE at school which stopped the rest of my bag getting foot stinky!

41. Now this one I love! Welcome to the House Of Mouse has this awesome super cute tutorial for a 30 minute skirt for a toddler! A skirt... covered in doodle birds! Think about it... I reckon you could make an adult version with 3 or 4 but you'd probably have to line it then, or maybe just use one as a panel in a skirt with some lovely vintage fabric!

42. Now here's an easy one, napkins! If you just snip the tea towel down the middle horizontally and hem up each side you have a lovely napkin!

Image credit Food 52

43. Make a cushion from a tea towel... doodle birds in your living room? Oh yes!

44. Make a wallet from your tea towel... I'd suggest that you cut your doodle birds out length ways so you can have a full doodle bird on each side of the fold and inside too! The tutorial from Obsessively Stitching looks relatively simple, even to it says boys wallet I'm sure a girl could use it too!

45. Tea Towel Shopping bag holder (my nan's favourite, she had dozens of these hanging about the house! Craft bits has a really simple tutorial even Mr Felt could manage it!

The Kickstarter Tea Towel  Project is still live and we have 5 days to go so it's quite fitting that I leave you with 5 ways to use a tea towel left to cover! I've added a new stretch goal... if we hit my next target all backers requiring posting will recieve an extra Barn Owl postcard sized mini print in their parcel! Yay! It's a big stretch this one...read more about it in my latest Kickstarter update here. You might think it's a lot for just 5 days but I've seen what you guys can do in just 2! So please share if you can't pledge... I really appreciate any support.

 Thanks
x
Mel

Folksy Friday - When It Rains Look for Rainbows

Rainbow Doodle Birds Nursery Print

I've been pootling about Folksy today to bring you some of my favourite folksy finds!All these sellers are people I've been stalking... I mean following for years! They are all super awesome!

Cloud coasters from Pygmy Cloud

 You can't have a rainbow without rain! These lovely clouds from Pygmy Cloud are brilliant! You could put a rainbow doodle birds mug on them!

The Sun Has Got His Hat on by Hello Dodo

The other thing you need for a rainbow is sunshine, I love Hello Dodo and the sun has indeed got his hat on today! 

Janine Basil's hair accessories Rainbow Bow

I love Janine Basil's hair bows, perfect rainbows for anyone with hair! You've probably seen me running about dressed as a superhero with a Boom hair clip!

Rainbow Lolly Card from The Nosuch Disco

If The Sn comes out you'll be needing a lollipop to eat while looking at that rainbow!

Flower Mirror from ThirtyFive Flowers

After the rain and the sun you get flowers! This pretty flower could be a sunshine too from ThirtyFive Flowers

More rainbows over at my Kickstarter Campaign, pretty soon there will be rainbow doodle birds tea towels and mugs on Folksy but you can pre order your tea towels and mugs over at my Kickstarter page.

Happy Folksy Friday Folks! Have a great rainbowy weekend!

50 Ways to Use a Tea Towel Part 8 - The First Aid Edit

So this morning I hadn't had my coffee yet and decided to unload the washing machine... which was all kinds of stoopid because before coffee I can't be trusted with complex tasks! I stood up too quickly and brained my self on the kitchen cupboard. As I was listening to the pretty birds tweeting in my head I realised that a (clean) tea towel has many applications in first aid!

(disclaimer if you have come here for genuine medical advice try NHS direct instead... I'm just silly!)

31. Alternative ways to treat a head injury.If you don’t have any ice cubes use a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel soaked in cold water and wrung out. (or just wrap the peas in a tea towel like I did!)

32. For Cramps wrap a hot water bottle in a tea towel and apply to the achey bit! 

33.If you don’t have dressing pads to put pressure on a wound a tea towel or even the person’s own hands can be used to put pressure on the wound and stop or slow down the flow of blood. (note maybe use a less nice tea towel than mine ok?)

34. Make a snazzy sling (ok this may only work for little people and teddy bears!

 

35. Dress a head wound (prevents brain from falling out!)

36. To treat a burn or scald, place the burnt area under running cold water until the pain eases. This may take up to 15 minutes. Cover the area with a clean dry tea towel (or something similar.) Do not pull clothes off a burnt area. Do not prick blisters. Do not put oil or cream on a burn. If the burn is large then seek medical advice at casualty.

My snazzy tea towel still available at Kickstarter :D

Picture sources:
https://happyowlgolucky.wordpress.com/2012/02/

Text Sources
http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/First-aid/Everyday-First-Aid/No-first-aid-kit-no-problem
http://www.whyburnpractice.nhs.uk/self-help/first-aid/

50 ways to use a tea towel part 7 In Which We Learn Stuff

A complete and accurate history of the tea towel based on 20 minutes of internet research... true to the best of my limited knowledge! (probably totally inaccurate, do not quote this in your doctoral thesis!)

The term tea towel seems to have been coined in the 18th century... possibly around the time us Brits became tea obsessed!

A brief internet search throws up a myriad of different origins of the humble tea towel from:

Way 22 - A towel made of fine linen for drying the best china

Way 23 - A beautiful decoratively embroidered towel which was used to line a tea tray to catch drips and/or:

Way 24 - To prevent the tea service sliding about on the tray.

In the 19th century Tea Time became a very popular almost universal daily event in Britain. Tea Time developed into a very serious affair accompanied by the families finest china, crystal and linens. The British lady of the house took great pride in her tea service and display and most probably her tea towel tho it's not as nifty as mine and cannot be fashioned into:

Way 25 - A very fine turban for the small of head

Way 26 - A rather splendid shawl or scarf

but could also be :

Way 27 - Wrapped around a tea pot as a sort of cosy. (ok we did this with a coffee pot but a teapot is different right? And I still have 23 more to go so give me a break!)

Way 28 - Used as a basket warmer, laid over the top of a serving basket or bowl to keep scones of fresh muffin warm (English muffin folks, the type you toast... not the huge cakey type of muffin which you should stuff in your face without warming first!) 

Way 29 - Ladies would often embroider tea towels with their own motifs... if ours wasn't gorgeous enough for you you could always add some embellishments, a french knot or two... perhaps some sequins? Maybe not the sequins!

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

The material tea towels are made from also provides a workable background to be decorated with embroidery. The ladies of this period often embroidered their own personal tea towels used during tea time

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5615509_history-tea-towel.html

 

Way 30 - As an improvised canvas, while my lovely doodle birds tea towel is far too gorgeous to paint on if you have ran out of canvas and are at the mercy of the muse, like Van Gogh you could improvise a canvas with a tea towel. Apparently he often did this and a still life with flowers painted on a tea towel fetched £2.1 million at an auction in 2000!

Ta da! 

Thus ends our completely inaccurate history of the tea towel! My rather splendid rainbow doodle birds tea towel is available at my Kickstarter here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-thttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t