Tea towels are a popular gift item, especially among those of us who love fabrics. And some of them are works of art – it seems a shame to stick them straight into the drawer!
So, I came up with a way to show them off for a while. It is so easy to make a cushion cover out of two tea towels, a child can do it, an adult who has never sewn can do it. It just takes a tiny bit of patience.
You will need:
- Two tea towels that go together and are the same size.
- Three or four large buttons
- A skein of tapestry yarn
- A chenille needle (big eye, sharp tip)
- A tape measure, pencil and some pins.
These are my two tea towels. I want the milk bottles to be on the front and the Crown Lynn one to be the back. 
Measure the tea towel across its width, between the seams. This one is 47cm, which is a great size for a 45cm cushion inner.
Find the middle of the tea towel and press to mark it. Then measure each way from that middle line the same as the width, so in this case, 47cm which is 23.5cm each way. Mark with a pin.
Fold up each end at the pin mark and press it. You will have an almost square (it will be a little wider than it is long because of the extra seams on the sides)
Next, lie the top folded edge over the end of the OTHER tea towel, like shown. I’ve just laid the buttons on it to give you an idea of where we’re going with it.
Measure and mark with a pencil where you want the buttons to go, and pin through all the layers in between.
Thread up the needle with about 50cm of yarn, doubled over. No need to knot it. Put it down through all the layers through one hole and back up through the next hole, like this.
Put the needle though the hole diagonally opposite like shown, then bring it back up through the last hole.
Double knot the ends and trim them into a little tassel. Now repeat with the other buttons.
Now that is all done, fold the back tea towel back, with a little bit showing above the buttons, folding the other end under so it lines up or is a bit behind the front tea towel. Pin all of the layers together along the two hem sides. (in the image below you can’t see the blue tea towel at the bottom because I’ve folded it to the inside a little bit short of the front)
Cut a length of yarn about 1.5 times longer than the tea towel, thread it onto the needle and start stitching through all the layers. I start with a short stitch then tie the ends together.
Keep stitching with a simple running stitch. NOTE that I am sewing inside the seams, not through them. They are really heavy and hard to sew! So make sure you sew just inside them on both layers!
Tie off your ends with a bit of a tassel if you like. Repeat on the other side. And you are done!
The cushion inner goes in through the non button end, like this. Once inserted, you can then hook the fold back of the front over it, like in a pillow case.
And there you have it. A great cushion cover to show off your lovely tea towels.
The best bit I think? If you get tired of them, simply pull out the stitching, cut off the buttons and you have two tea towels again. A quick wash and they can be folded up in the drawer read to dry dishes!