I’m completely obsessed with this project. It’s so easy and so charming!!! Personalized tea towels have become a popular favor this year and today’s tutorial breaks down a simple way to make your very own, custom silk screen design to paint with!!! Keep in mind, part of the beauty in this project is it’s raw nature – these prints don’t need to be perfect. You will be amazed at how easy it is once you try it for yourself!

SUPPLIES:

• cheap Ikea dish towels (these are only $.079 each!)
• small piece of silk organza material
• plastic embroidery hoop
• Martha Stewart Crafts Decoupage glue (any finish will do)
• Martha Stewart Crafts paint in your favorite color
• Martha Stewart Crafts paint squeegee
• small paint brush
• Sharpie

Start by placing a small piece of silk organza fabric inside your embroidery hoop. Make sure to tighten the tension knob and pull your fabric snug – you want it taught within the hoop. I say to use a plastic embroidery hoop only for ease of cleaning, if you have a wooden one that’s fine too.

/////    xoxo FREE download   /////

Download the ‘xoxo’ design above or design and print something special for yourself! Remember to keep your font choice bold as well as your designs. The bolder the better – thin lines are more difficult to paint.

Lay your hoop fabric side down and trace the entire design with a Sharpie.

Here’s where it gets good! Using Martha Stewart Crafts fab new decoupage glue, completely paint around your entire design – really lay the glue on thick. Let this air dry completely. Depending on how thick you apply the glue it might take anywhere from 2 – 4 hours to dry. It would be best to do this step the night before you want to make this project.

Painting the glue like this is going to completely seal your fabric so that you can silk screen your design. Here you can see how thick I applied the decoupage glue. If necessary, once dry – you can go back over the glued area to ensure that there are no leak holes.

Find the placement of your design on your towel by folding it first, then unfold and lay flat.

Add a line of paint to your squeegee, tap it down at the top of your design and pull the paint across your silk screen! It’s so easy and so fab! CRAFTERS TIP // this towel was a little porous so I quickly pulled the paint across twice to ensure coverage.

Carefully remove your silkscreen to reveal your darling design! You will be able to make at least 10 prints in between washings… as long as the backside of your screen stays clean.

Make sure to wash your silkscreen with soap and water right away! If paint dries in the fabric fibers your design will be ruined! This silk screen can be kept to make these over and over!

Pat the material dry and then hang it to finish drying. Ok.. you can lay it down to finish drying too… hanging just looks like more fun in the window :)

The sky is the limit with design options for this project! You can also make larger silkscreens this exact same way… to screen print on tote bags, t-shirts, thank you notes, etc!

You can easily silkscreen your initials as well… I had to do ours in turquoise of course!

As with all our DIY tutorials, if you create one of our projects please send us a picture or a trackback – We Love Seeing Your Creativity! If you use Instagram or Twitter please use the hashtag #SomethingTurquoiseDIY. Happy Crafting!

Photography: Studio 11 Weddings // DIY tutorial by: Jen | Something Turquoise // Martha Stewart Crafts Decoupage Glue in Gloss Finish, Martha Stewart Crafts paint (in Gray Wolf and Beach Glass), MSC paint brush and paint squeegee: Editors at Martha Stewart all available at Michaels // cheap tea towels: Ikea // silk organza and embroidery hoop: JoAnn Fabrics // nail polish: OPI – Paint My Moji-toes Red