Looking for a great idea to create a custom gift for someone special this holiday season with a sentimental touch? Here’s how turning recipes into tea towels created a perfect gift this year.
Do do ever dream of giving the best gift ever?
You know, the kind that when they open it up, they either squeal with delight or cry tears of joy. It’s so awesome that people shake your hand, raise you on their shoulders and break out into song.
Too lofty of a dream?
Maybe a bit – but I did want to give an amazing gift to my rock star Mom. One that I knew she would cherish. I knew it needed to be handmade, sentimental, and affordable!
I stumbled upon this awesome idea from Spoonflower.com. Spoonflower makes custom fabrics, wallpaper, and decals from your designs. Not only that, but they also have a huge catalog of gorgeous prints you can choose from. You can also order other patterns created from custom designers.
It was this beautiful tutorial from Emma from Hello Beautiful who shared how to turn family recipes into tea towels.
Emma gave a wonderful tutorial of how to upload your pictures, the correct format needed for printing the desired amount of fabric.
This gave me a wonderful idea to make for my momma! So here’s what I did to create my DIY tea towels.
Turning Recipes Into Tea Towels
Step One: Choose Your Design
First, I chose a recipe special to my mom. This is a recipe card from my Great Grandmother in her handwriting that was given to my Mother at her bridal shower years ago. I had a copy of this for my own recipe book.
My recipe card was a bit bland, so I added the scrapbooking backing and embellishments to add color.
Part of the bridal shower was to include quotes for the bride to be – recipes for a happy marriage, again in her handwriting.
Isn’t that precious?
So I used those quotes as the second towel.
Step Two: Build your PDF
Then I went to my favorite photo design builder, PicMonkey, and created a design that works with the fabric parameters. Simply scan your recipe cards and upload them to PicMonkey. Using their design tool, I was able to play around with my pattern.
I planned on ordering Spoonflower’s linen-cotton canvas for durability. It comes in a 54″ wide area. According to their site, 54” x 36” will fit exactly on one yard of the linen-cotton canvas and will produce 4 tea towels.
Now for a bit of figuring. You need to add spacing for your cuts and hem lines. I set my PicMonkey design to fit their fabric parameters. I created a solid background to match my photos and made sure everything was centered and even. Also, turning your pics 90 degrees helps get the most of the fabric.
Once you are satisfied, download your creation in pdf format.
Here’s how my creation looked. (tip – download in a high quality format so that your print doesn’t look pixelated.)
Step Three: Order your fabric
Head to Spoonflower, and upload your pdf. Select the amount you want, and the fabric type and add it to your cart.
I ordered a 1 yard cut.
If you have time, you can order a test swatch to see how it will look before you finalize your order. However, I didn’t have time so this was the first batch.
Step Four: Sew your tea towel
Then I waited.
With baited breath – dreaming of that gift giving moment for my mom.
The fabric arrived in about 10 days and was absolutely GORGEOUS! It was exactly as the design planned. I had two set of tea towels I could now work with – perfect for the just in case mistakes, ya know?
My Great Grandmother’s handwriting looks beautiful on the linen! Turning recipes into tea towels was such a wonderful idea and I knew my mom was going to love this!
I am by NO MEANS an seamstress, so I’ll spare you any sewing details, but here’s the gist.
First, I simply cut the fabric. Next, I pressed the edges and hemmed them.
You don’t have to be a pro at sewing.
It was simple straight lines on the sewing machine.
A perfect, sentimental gift to give to someone special, like my Momma!
So how did the gift giving go?
Well, it wasn’t the fanfare, create a parade for Jen type of response, but she did tear up and gush and ooh and aah over her present.
She showed it to all her friends and our family and it made my heart happy to give her something she would cherish.
If you are looking for custom gift ideas that are easy, affordable and sure to be a win, turning recipes into tea towels is a perfect idea!
Pin this for later!
You may also like these tutorials:
Reupholstering a Wingback Chair
Vintage Washstand Turned Bathroom Vanity
These are beautiful….great project for Mother's Day….right around the corner, really!
Such a lovely and sweet gift – great idea!
These are awesome too, where have you been hiding from me? I'm pinning these.
Bliss
This is such a great idea for a truly special gift.
i LOVE this idea! My mother died when I was 20 but wrote out tons of her recipes on cards for my brother and I before she passed…I would LOVE to get some of her recipes printed on tea towels for my nieces. What a treasure!
This is just beautiful! I have a book of recipes that were my grandmothers and this would be a great family gift. Thanks for linking up @ Crazy Beautiful Life
Oh my goodness this is such a fabulous idea and so beautifully done! Take care, Laura
How much did the yard cost
I was able to get all my fabric for less than $30.
It’s possible I’m just missing something here. Did you sew the recipe fabric onto the tea towels or use a fusible iron on, or did you order it with your recipe fabric printed on the tea towels?
It’s a custom ordered fabric made by Spoonflower. They can reprint any design you want for a great price. Once my fabric arrived, I just hemmed the edges. Hope that helps!
What a great idea.
Looking forward to following this.
Jen,
You did good sewing. I love this idea.
Fab idea! I’ve read about Spoonflower. You’ve got my thoughts going. Now thinking of other unique things I could create since I also draw/paint. Hmmm …
This is wonderful. Thank you for sharing. Love the fabric you picked. Do you remember what it’s called?
It’s a custom fabric I made using Spoonflower – it’s my great grandmother’s recipe in her handwriting. Isn’t that so special? You can create your own fabric the same way!
Absolutely the coolest gift ever. We lost our Mom last year and my sister’s would love this. Thank you for sharing. I’m not a wiz on the computer so I might have to get a kid to help me. I am however a seamstress so I see endless possibilities. Um pillows etc.
Thank you Debby! My Mom (also named Debbie) loved this gift and it’s sure to please anyone. And it would work for any gift giving season – birthdays, Mother’s Day, Grandparents Day, Christmas – even a just because gift! Thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope you found some help getting your fabric ordered!