Fall is the perfect time to embrace cozy vibes and festive decor, and what better way to do that than by creating your own Fall and Halloween DIY tea towels? With a bit of creativity and some simple supplies, you can craft charming towels adorned with autumn leaves and pumpkin shapes. They make an ADORABLE handcrafted hostess gift as well, just toss in a bottle of wine or some cheese knives! Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you make your own.
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DIY Tea Towels – Supplies Needed:
- Flour Sack Towels: These are absorbent and great for painting.
- Acrylic Paint: Choose colors that reflect the fall season, like orange, red, brown, and green.
- GAC 900 Fabric Medium: This helps make acrylic paint suitable for fabric, ensuring it won’t crack or peel.
- Oak & Maple Leaves: Collected from your neighborhood, these will be used as stamps.
- Sliced Orange: For creating pumpkin shapes.
- Paintbrushes: For applying paint to the leaves and orange.
- Palette: For mixing paint.
- Paper Towels or Rags: To clean up and blot excess paint.
- Old Newspaper or Craft Paper: To protect your workspace.
- Iron (or Dryer): To heat-set the paint.
DIY Tea Towles – Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Prepare Your Workspace
- Cover your work surface with newspaper or craft paper to protect it from paint spills.
- Set up your paint palette, brushes, and fabric medium in easy reach.
2. Prepare the Leaves
- Gently wash and dry the oak and maple leaves to remove any dirt or debris.
- I also recommend ironing any major wrinkles from your tea towels – I didn’t do this, but wish I had!
3. Prepare the Orange Slice
- Slice an orange into thick rounds. Squeeze & pat the slices dry to remove excess juice. This will help the paint adhere better (and make the whole process less messy).
4. Mix Your Paint
- In a palette, mix acrylic paint with GAC 900 fabric medium according to the instructions on the fabric medium bottle. Typically, you’ll want to use about 1 part GAC 900 to 2 parts acrylic paint (I always err on the side of a bit more fabric medium, just to ensure the paint lasts!)
- Stir thoroughly until the paint and medium are well combined.
5. Stamping with Leaves
- Use a paintbrush to apply a generous amount of paint to the surface of a leaf. I experimented and the prints I liked most were ones where I combined multiple colors on a leaf (i.e. orange, red and brown)
- Carefully press the painted side of the leaf onto a flour sack towel, applying even pressure.
- Lift the leaf straight up to reveal the stamped design. If the print isn’t as clear as you’d like, try adding more paint or adjusting the pressure.
- Repeat the process with different leaves and colors, creating a pattern or design that you like.
6. Creating Pumpkin/Jack-o-Lantern Shapes with Orange Slices
- Brush the surface of the orange slice with orange paint mixed with GAC 900.
- Press the orange slice onto the towel to create pumpkin shapes. You might need to reapply paint between stamps. As you can see, I also doubled up some of my ornage stamps to creat large “pumpkins,” as well.
- Use a paintbrush to add details like pumpkin lines, stems, and jack-o-lantern faces if desired.
7. Let the Paint Dry
- Allow the painted towels to dry completely. This might take several hours or overnight depending on the paint thickness and room conditions.
8. Heat-Set the Paint
- Once the paint is fully dry, place a piece of parchment paper or a thin cloth over the painted areas; I just used another, clean flour sack towel.
- Using an iron set to a medium heat, press down firmly over the parchment paper or cloth. This will help set the paint and make it more durable.
- Iron for about 3-5 minutes, making sure to cover all painted areas.
- Alternatively, you can throw your dried DIY tea towels into your dryer on high heat for 30 minutes. (I ended up doing both, because by the end of drying, my towels still had big wrinkles I wanted to get out – hence my recommendation above about ironing ahead of time!)
9. Care Instructions
- Wash your towels in cold water with a mild detergent. Avoid bleach and fabric softeners, which can affect the paint.
- Hang to dry or tumble dry on a low setting.
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Final Touches
Your hand-painted fall and Halloween DIY tea towels are now ready to use! They make lovely additions to your kitchen or can be given as thoughtful, handmade gifts! Feel free to share your projects and tag me @sunrisevalleyfarm.co on social media in your photos. Happy crafting and Happy Fall! 🍂🎃
XO,
Ana
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