A different sort of towels...

 A while back Fabric-Store.com had a sale on their linen waffle fabric.  It's a very interesting thing...fairly stiff when it arrives, it shrinks variably and waffles up when washed.  They have a tutorial on their blog for cutting two bath towels one hand towel and two washcloths from three yards of the fabric; I ordered an extra yard to get a total of two hand towels and 4 washcloths...which is what I always get when I buy towel sets.

I added an extra step after cutting...I serged all the raw edges.  The fabric is sort of loosely woven and regular towels sometimes fray out so, an excess of caution prevailed.

I used templates cut from manila folders to press the hems up...slightly narrower than recommended

 (1/2" turned twice instead of 3/4")

At this stage the fabric is really nice to press.

The instructions are just to fold one side over the other and stitch them down, but I like mitered corners so the first two washcloths I mitered the corners.

Now, I don't like MAKING mitered corners, I like LOOKING AT Mitered corners, lol.  They are fiddly and tedious to do...

But after grinding through four, I suddenly realized that those threads were gonna shrink when washed and I got worried that I'd trimmed them out too much.

But I didn't want bulky corners...what to do...

Finally I decided to trim a bit out, then fold the hems over each other like the instructions.

But I box stitched the corners to make sure to hold everything down well.

 

Once everything was done, I washed the towels to waffle them up.  Here's the before the wash and after the wash...

Hand towels:

 

And the bath towels:

The towels are still really big, compared to my Lands' End towels.  I am actually standing on the hearth, lol. But...it needs the length.  When I used them, my subconscious reaction was 'Ew!  Cheap thin towels!'   And I had to remind myself that they weren't thin, they were different.   So the extra length kinda makes up for the lack of heft. They ARE really absorbent.  And the miters seemed to have held up fine...after one washing, anyway.  But the box stitched corners are way faster to do and there's no chance it will come undone.

So...it was an interesting experiment.  I've read that the towels get softer over time.  I may do a follow up report after six months or so to let you know if the opinion changes, lol.

I am going to label this as Home Dec, which is isn't, technically, but that's the best label I've got, lol.

Another one bites the dust...

 Sad face.  Very, very sad face.

I have received an email that Textile Fabrics in Nashville, THE ONLY REAL FABRIC STORE within driving distance, will be closing as the owner is retiring.

I don't often get to go, as it is a 2 hour drive, and I don't even think I've made it to their newest location (they've moved twice since I first managed to visit), but just knowing they were there was like a security blanket.  

I probably won't make it up this fall for the clearance sales; it's not like I NEED more fabric anyway,  so I'm just going to have to remember how lovely it was to walk in...smell FABRIC and not cinnamon brooms, and see gorgeous silks and woolens live and in person.

I am grateful for the internet vendors, but even the best of them will sometimes send a 'Hhhhmmmm...' piece of fabric, something that wasn't quite what I pictured from the description.  There's just something so luscious about actually touching that piece of fabric and envisioning what it might be...then putting it on the counter and watching it get unrolled and cut; finding matching thread and buttons right there...

I fear that is a thing of the past.  At least in North Alabama.  There's just nothing around...that I know of, anyway.  Textile Fabrics was the last bastion of fine home sewing.

Now all there is...is JoAnn's World of Polyester and Crafts.

I'm going to be kinda blue about this for a bit.

I should find time to sew something I bought from Textile Fabrics in honor of the dreams I have dreamed there...