Country Homespun Snowman Applique Kitchen Towel

During the winter season, I love decorating my home in a snowman theme...I leave my snowmen out until the middle of February before I finally put them away for the season.

A few weeks ago, I saw some cute homespun towels out in a retail store that had snowman appliques on them...however, they were blue towels and my country kitchen is in red. I decided to not purchase them and to go home and make my own...that way, they would match my red kitchen.

Here is how I made my own snowman applique kitchen towels:

17" by 26" piece of homespun cotton fabric
Sewing machine with coordinating thread

I ironed my homespun to remove wrinkles. I then ironed a 1/4" back around all four of my edges (to the wrong side of fabric) and then folded it over again by a 1/4" so that it will hide the raw edges of my fabric. I then used a 1/4" seam allowance and sewed around all four edges of my fabric using a straight stitch.

Snowman Applique

You can find free printable snowman designs online by doing a search for free coloring pages or head to your local dollar store and purchase a holiday coloring book. Cut out the design. Scan the design into your computer and print off a few copies. I then cut apart my copies...one piece for the body, one for each piece of his clothing and so forth...until I have a pattern piece for each piece that I will need to make my snowman applique.

You will then trace each piece onto your desired color of wool felt with a disappearing ink pen. Cut out your felt shapes. Start building your snowman by hand sewing on his clothing and accents. I chose to use tiny little stitches for attaching all of his pieces to his felt body. Once I had him completed, I attached him to my towel by doing a blanket stitch around him. I used two strands of black embroidery floss for my blanket stitching.

It sounds a lot harder than what it really is...fun and relaxing. I like to sew up my towels one day...then during the evening while I am watching TV, I will hand sew up my appliques.

~ Happy Crafting ~