tea towels

For Zakka sew along this week, tea towels are the thing to make. With a cute kitchen theme and salt and pepper shakers on the side, Ayumi's tea towels are just the sweetest things imaginable! I slightly deviated from the theme inspired by melons and berries from our market trips.

Even though it still doesn't feel like lazy summer weather with chill in the wind and frequent rains., watermelons and mangoes, I eagerly wait for all year long are already here and we have been eating them a lot. 

But I wasn't sure how interesting a slice of mango would look if I applique'd it here, so I went with blue berries. I am hoping making these fruity tea towels is a step towards ignoring grey skies and having indoor picnics :)

This minty green fabric is a linen rayon from our local shop and it seems to be very absorbent.  For the binding I combined an off white floral print by Ecrulat with another floral of Nani Iro. I wanted the feel to be light and relaxing, so I kept the applique to a minimum too.

For watermelon I used a pink voile fabric which is translucent and let the edges fray naturally to give an illusion of freshly cut fruit. After fusing the pieces, I embroidered tiny black seeds on the top. This is the only stitching I did. Later I may have to do a slip stitch around the edges to secure it firmly.

I followed same steps for the berries and added little stems on top.. tastes of both these fruit are so different, it gave me the idea for their contrasting captions, ' sweet melon ' and ' tart berries '.

I hope sun is shining brightly at your end! Have a nice weekend! ( ' u ' )