A Homemade Mother’s Day Project – Easy, Fun and Practical

Thanks to Springfield Moms contributor Sarah Chandler for sharing this project that will touch grandma’s heart.

Flour Sack Towel Sewing Project

Passing along traditions seems to be a requirement in my family. Sewing is one of those traditions that has remained strong for 4 generations in my lifetime and is now going on to a 5th—to my daughter. While we use our sewing skills to mend clothing and make practical household items, creating homemade gifts is where we really have found joy. With  Mother’s Day approaching, I‘m sure many of you can appreciate this homemade gift idea: Embroidered Flour Sack Towels. Don’t let the name scare you off as it is a great sewing project for beginners young and old. It is also a friendly way to become familiar with a needle and thread as the needle you use is big and the area you sew is not precise. But first let me define a couple of terms:

• Embroidery: The handcraft of decorating fabric or other materials with a needle and thread or yarn. You can do this by using a pattern or free form. Anything goes!

• Flour Sack Towels: Back in the “olden days,” flour came in cloth sacks, and people would cut the sacks up and make towels out of them. These particular towels are super absorbent, relatively lint free and can be used for anything from drying dishes and polishing glassware to straining foods and covering rising dough. Nowadays, you can purchase the towels in packs from a variety of stores starting around $5 for a pack of 5. I scored my latest batch at Meijer on clearance for $2.45!

Supply List

* 1 Flour Sack Towel

* 1 Embroidery Needle (Can be purchased at JoAnn Fabrics in a pack of 6 for around $1.75)

* Embroidery Thread or Floss(Can be purchased in the same aisle as the needles for around $1 per color)

* Washable pencil

* Small Embroidery Hoop (To keep the fabric snug while you’re sewing)

* Scissors

The easiest way to start is by choosing your design. My 5-year-old daughter wanted to sew a flower so I drew a super basic one on her towel. Think child-like drawing. I threaded the needle with a piece of embroidery thread about 24 inches long, not too long that she would get tangled in it, but not too short that she would need another one threaded again really soon. I tied a knot in the end and then put the hoop on the fabric. I showed her how to sew up and down through the fabric. While her stitches started out far apart, she was able to follow the lines of the design all the way around and in no time had her first petal made. I’m excited to see where her sewing career goes from here.

This particular towel is heading out to Vancouver, WA to her Grandma Chandler for Mother’s Day as she loves to receive gifts that her grandchildren make for her. Plus, anytime Grandma dries her hands or mops up the kitchen counter, she can think of Anne.

Springfield Moms contributor Sarah Chandler is a Springfield native, wife to Jeff, and mom to Levi and Anne. She loves to be outdoors during all seasons and enjoys relaxing indoors by creating quilts and scrapbooking.