Upcycling Tea Towels



My parents went on holiday to Portugal a few months back. They had a lovely time and brought back lots of mementos from their trip.

Mum brought some tea towels which she loved the look of, but though too pretty to use as "just" tea towels, so I offered to upcycle them for her.

According to wikipedia: 

Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

The first blue one was just so pretty. Sweet little birds and blossoms on a gorgeous blue background.



Without too much fuss I folded it up and made an envelope style back to turn this into a lovely little pillow. I didn't have a pillow insert of this unique size, so I cut a regular bed pillow in half, sewed it back up (while trying to keep control of the stuffing) and created my own insert. Perfect!

The next two tea towels were rather large, with cute fish prints around the edge of Portuguese hearts in the centre.




I layered some batting and backing and quilted them to make some lovely big placemats. I chose a red fabric for the binding and machine sewed it down with a long zig-zag stitch. These will be perfect for my parents to lay on the table when having their dinner... or to use when their messy grandkids come over for a visit.



Have you ever upcycled tea towels?
What cute new items have you created with tea towels?

15 comments

  1. I have been looking for a good idea on how to repurpose a collection of tea towels that I have. Both your projects are perfect. Looks like new projects for the weekend. Thank you Donna Weeks (aka Momma Llama)

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    1. Thank you so much. I'm glad that I was able to give you a little bit of tea-towel inspiration :)

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  2. great job and great idea for placemats

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    1. Thank you very much. I gave them to mum today and she was very pleased with them.

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  3. What a great idea, the towels are beautiful and deserve to be upcycled!

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    1. Thank you. I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

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  4. What a great idea! Love the first teatowel!

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    1. Thank you. I love that one best too. That blue is just beautiful.

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  5. What great ideas!! I love both of those patterns, just beautiful.

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    1. Thank you so much. I think I need to make some of these for myself now :)

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  6. Clever ideas! I bought a t towel when I went to see the Bayeux tapestry earlier this year and it's to good to use on the dishes!

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    1. Yes! I know exactly what you mean about being 'too good to use on dishes'. I have a few of those stored away in my drawer.

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  7. Great ideas for tea towels, thank you!

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  8. You made some wonderfully useful items from those tea towel! I have a knitting project bag made from a tea towel, but have never upcycled one myself. Although, I recently purchased one to do just that. Thanks for the inspiration!!

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