This post has a lot of pics, so bear with me...
First I'd like you to meet my sewing machine, Big Bertha. Isn't she perty? Made in the 1985, so she's almost as old as I am :).
Try to get it as close to perfect as possible, but don't worry, no one will be able to tell if the lines are off by a quarter of an inch or so. Mark the line with a pencil, it'll come off in the wash.
Do some hand stretching stretches, 'cause cutting through the thick fabric of a towel will send you into convulsions. Also helps if you have super sharp fabric cutting scissors.
Tuck the raw edges in on themselves, using as little fabric as possible. Because this towel is so thick I had to fold over about an inch of fabric. You can leave the raw edge exposed though, because we're going to sew right over it, covering it up.
Set the sewing machine to a straight stitch setting a the skinniest stitch allowance (See following two pics). We're going to sew only a 1/4 inch or so at this length to lock in the ends of the thread, then switch to another stitch. Lemme esplain...
The skinniest stitch setting is all the way to the right (On Big Bertha at least), and the widest is to the right. That's used mostly for zigzag stitches and other crazy embroidery stitches, we're only going to use the zigzag and the straight stitch this time.
First I'd like you to meet my sewing machine, Big Bertha. Isn't she perty? Made in the 1985, so she's almost as old as I am :).
Seeeew, come here often?
My little scrap of a towel. I took the total length and divided by three, so that I could squeeze three little towels out of this one regular sized one.
It helps a lot if you have a cutting mat used for quilting, but as long as you measure all the sides of the towel carefully you should be fine. I folded the towel in half so I'd just have one shorter cut to make instead of a much longer one. It helps keep the cutting line straight as well.
I lined up the bottom and right edge of the towel as evenly as possible with the markings on the mat. Then measured 15" from the right side because that's how wide each of the little towelettes are going to be. Laying the ruler across the fabric, trying to keep it from shifting underneath, I lined up the right edge of the ruler with the markings on the mat so that I get 15" from the right side of the towel on both the top edge and the bottom.
Try to get it as close to perfect as possible, but don't worry, no one will be able to tell if the lines are off by a quarter of an inch or so. Mark the line with a pencil, it'll come off in the wash.
Do some hand stretching stretches, 'cause cutting through the thick fabric of a towel will send you into convulsions. Also helps if you have super sharp fabric cutting scissors.
You should have a couple of same-ish sized little towelettes.
Is it weird to be proud of cutting up towels nicely?
Keep track of your pins... Seriously... Because they're sharp... Because they're pins.
Set the sewing machine to a straight stitch setting a the skinniest stitch allowance (See following two pics). We're going to sew only a 1/4 inch or so at this length to lock in the ends of the thread, then switch to another stitch. Lemme esplain...
The skinniest stitch setting is all the way to the right (On Big Bertha at least), and the widest is to the right. That's used mostly for zigzag stitches and other crazy embroidery stitches, we're only going to use the zigzag and the straight stitch this time.
Center the needle right above the line where the raw edge of the fabric is, and clamp the presser foot down.
To lock down the end of the thread, sew a straight line using the straight stitch for about a 1/4 - 1/2 an inch. When you've reached that point, sew veeery slowly until the needle is down all the way into the fabric, put the machine into it's reverse sewing setting, and sew back on top of the line you just made. When you've gotten back to the original starting point of the sewn line, put the needle all the way down into the fabric again, and stitch forward through the same line again. This will anchor the thread and keep it from pulling out without having to tie a bunch of little annoying knots.
When you've gotten to this point, switch the setting to the zigzag stitch, and make it the widest stitch possible. See the following two pics.
Using this stitch, sew down the line of the raw edge of the fabric, making sure the wide stitch covers the raw edge on both sides. Make sure to switch back to the straight stitch at it's narrowest setting to lock the thread down when you reach the end.
So fwuffy.
You should have a lovely set of matching towels to adorn your boudoir.
Make sure to have plenty of cats on hand for emergencies.
