Hanging Kitchen Towel In-the-Hoop Embroidery Design

Hi, this is Chris from Needlepointers.com with another machine embroidery project idea.  These hanging kitchen towels are created with a machine embroidery towel topper design.   

Hanging kitchen towels are a wonderful gift idea or hostess gift idea for almost any holiday or season.  The kitchen towels I've made are a variety of spring, summer and Halloween themed but don't forget Christmas, Patriotic, and Easter too.

I've given these hanging towels as Christmas gifts in the past and get requests frequently to make more as everyone loves these towels.

These hanging towels are nice for the kitchen but can also be used in a bathroom. 

Maybe you can relate, somehow the hand towels in my powder bathroom always end up on the floor.  I wonder how that happens? Well, I guess it's the kids.  LOL.  These hanging towels won't fall onto the floor!

If you have this problem, I have another solution you can use to turn any towel into a hanging towel.  Just add Kam Snaps!  Check out this tutorial, Hanging Hand Towel with Kam Snaps to learn how.

No embroidery machine? We have you covered with our Free Hanging Kitchen Towel Pattern and Tutorial.  The pattern was inspired by this machine embroidery pattern but is sewn on a traditional sewing machine!

Learn more about these Hanging Kitchen Towels by watching our video through the link below or keep reading this post.

WHAT YOU NEED to make the hanging Kitchen towels

Please look at the end of this article for links to the design and supplies to purchase.

• Store Purchased Kitchen Towels or Hand Sized Bath Towels
• Two Coordinating Fabrics
• In-the-Hoop Kitchen Set by Embroidery Garden
• Embroidery Thread
• Kam Snaps and Tools
• Tear Away Stabilizer
• Pellon 988
• Scissors, Rotary Cutter & Mat

Where can I find Kitchen towels to purchase?

Kitchen and bath towels can be expensive to purchase but there are deals out there!  I like to look at Kohl's as they usually have cute seasonal kitchen towels available.  

The best deals I've found for kitchen towels are multi-pack towels.  I have found sets of 4 towels on sale at Kohl's and if you have one of their coupons for 30% off, the price comes WAY DOWN!

Keep in mind that every towel you purchase makes TWO hanging kitchen towels.  So, a four-pack of towels makes eight finished hanging towels.

Some of the multi-pack towels will have two decorative towels and two solid color towels. The solid-color towels can still be used!  Pair the solid towels with a decorative fabric topper or machine embroider a design onto the front of the towel before adding a topper as I did on some of these Halloween Towels.

Other good places to purchase kitchen and bath towels are Joann, Walmart and Amazon.

Find Fun Coordinating Fabrics

Once you have the towels, head to the fabric store and find some matching fabrics!  

Joann has a lot of fun novelty fabrics, so if you have towels like the coffee towels shown below, Joann may be a good source to find coordinating fabrics.

Your local quilt store may also have coordinating fabrics to go with the towels.  Look at the end of this article for links to purchase towels and fabrics.

Two fabrics are needed to make the machine embroidered hanging towel topper.  One for the main front section of the towel topper and a contrasting fabric for the back and contrast band.

I stitched my hanging towel toppers using the amount of fabric I had on hand.  The hanging towel on the left above was stitched with the contrast fabric for the back and contrast band.  Note that the back fabric shows when the snap is snapped.

The hanging towel on the right was stitched with the main fabric used for the front and back.  The contrast fabric was only used for the contrast band on this hanging towel. 

About the Machine Embroidery Hanging Towel Topper Design

This in-the-hoop hanging towel topper is sewn on an embroidery machine.  The design I used is from Embroidery Garden named In the hoop kitchen set.  The set comes with a towel topper, coasters, hot pads, dish liquid bottle aprons, jar grippers, and a hot mitt.

If you make a whole matching set, it would make a nice bridal shower gift!

The hanging towel topper can be stitched with a 5x7 or 6x10 hoop. The 5x7 size is stitched in two hoopings.  The 6x10 size is stitched in one hooping.

The stitching time for the 6x10 towel topper is less than 5 minutes.  So, this towel can be completed in around 30 minutes. Once the topper is stitched, it is turned and pressed.  The towel is pleated or gathered and inserted into the topper and stitched in place with a sewing machine.  A Kam snap is added last.

This Embroidery Garden pattern comes with a PDF step-by-step tutorial that guides you through completing each of the projects in the set.

If you would like to purchase this pattern, scroll to the end of this tutorial.  

How to use a Directional Kitchen Towel

Some kitchen towels in the sets have a pattern that is printed in one direction.  See the towel in the photo below has the Merry Christmas printed across the entire kitchen towel.

If the top half of the towel is inserted into the towel topper like usual, the design will be hanging upside down.  This won't work well!

To keep from wasting half of the towel, turn the towel around before putting it into the towel topper.

After cutting the towel in half, use your seam ripper to pick out the hem of the towel that would be upside down and iron it flat.  Turn the towel so it’s right side up, and create a new hem on the cut end of the towel by folding it up ½” twice and ironing.  Stitch a new hem across the bottom of the towel and now you have a 2^nd towel to insert into the topper.

The cactus towel shown below had a new hem stitched on the bottom.

How to Fold the Hanging Kitchen Towel to Insert into the Towel Topper

Since the kitchen towel is much wider than the towel topper, it will need to be folded, pleated or gathered so the cut edge can be inserted into the finished towel topper.

I like to fold my towel by making two pleats on each side.  Towels with an all over pattern can have smaller pleats across the front (see the sunflower towel photo above).  The pleats can be folded toward the front of the towel or towards the back.  It's up to you how you want the towel to look.

If the towel has a large design in the middle, like the coffee towel below, make large pleats towards the back of the towel.  This will allow most of the design to show when the towel is hanging.

If you don’t like making pleats, another option is to gather the kitchen towel along the top edge.  To do this, run a gathering stitch across the top and gather the towel before putting it into the topper.  A zig-zag gather stitch also works well for this project.

Using the pleating or gathering, make the kitchen towel small enough to fit inside the towel topper.  Slide the towel into the topper by an inch or two. Pin it in place and then stitch across the edge of the contrast band about 1/4" - 1/2" from the bottom of the band.

This will attach the towel to the topper.

Install Kam Snaps

The last step to finish up the hanging kitchen towel is to add a Kam Snap.

I love to use Kam Snaps for these towels because they come in so many different colors and styles.  As you can see, I have a whole collection!

There are also cute specialty snap shapes and snaps with designs imprinted on them.

Kam Snaps are easy to install using the Kam snap tool and awl.  If you would like to see how to install Kam Snaps, follow the link to our tutorial.

I always recommend testing the Kam Snaps at least three times by snapping and unsnapping them to make sure they are installed correctly.  Sometimes they will come apart on the first few snaps if they are not pressed firmly.

Did you install Kam Snaps incorrectly and need to remove them?  Click to see our tutorial on How to Remove Kam Snaps.

The towels are then finished and ready for hanging in your kitchen or powder bathroom.  These would make wonderful gifts!

We hope you enjoyed learning about this in-the-hoop towel topper machine embroidery design and make some hanging kitchen towels for yourself or as gifts.  Expect to get requests for more towels if you make them as gifts!

I love to make kitchen towels! 

Other Kitchen Towel Projects:

• Turn any towel into a Hanging Kitchen Towel with Kam Snaps
• Make a Hanging Kitchen Towel with our free towel topper pattern and tutorial. 
• Make yourself some Un-paper Towels from old bath towels.
• This super simple Hanging Potholder Dish Towel takes a store purchased towel and a potholder to make a hanging dish towel.
• Embellish a store purchased towel by adding a fabric border to the towel.
• Holiday Crocheted Dish Towels - Free patterns for snowman, santa and gingerbread man can be crocheted to make super cute towels.