Recipe Dish Towels

We don't often put pen to paper anymore, but there is something so special about a handwritten card, letter, or note.  Take a recipe for instance. How often to you actually write down a recipe when it is so easy to print it off online, take a picture with your phone, or run it through the copy machine?

When looking through my parents' recipe box, most are in my Grandma's handwriting, copied or passed down.  Many of my childhood memories of my dad's mom are of her in the kitchen, and although we lost our dear Grandma J just short of two years ago, she is always present in the meals the Jorgensen family prepares throughout the year.  Her bread stuffing at Thanksgiving, pancakes on a Sunday morning, and her homemade noodles on that special occasion when my mom has a few days to dedicate to the extensive process.

When I came across a project idea on Pinterest to preserve a few of my grandmother's recipes on dish towels, I could not pass up the opportunity to make this special keepsake for each household in the Jorgensen family for Christmas.

Here is how I did it:

Step 1: Pick the recipes - my sister and cousins Beau and Ashley helped me with this one. We decided on Grandma's stuffing and noodles.

Step 2: Take a high quality picture of each recipe.

Step 3: Using an editing program (we used Photoshop) create a 34" by 54" canvas - the size of 1 yard of fabric.  Then, insert your recipes onto the canvas.  We choose to put 4 of them on a yard.  Be sure to account for your seam - we left 2 inches of fabric on each side of each recipe.  Then, to add a little character, we made the background of the canvas a dark brown. Thanks to by husband, Rob (aka - my personal graphic designer), for taking care of this step!

Step 4: Upload your design to a custom fabric website.  The tutorial for this project that I followed used Spoonflower.  I had not heard of this company before, but I have a feeling we will be working on a lot of projects together in the future :)

Step 5: Select your fabric and order.  We choose linen and selected the '1 yard' option (the size of our design).  To make enough for all of my family, I ordered 4 yards - to become 16 towels.

Step 6: Wait......plan ahead for when you need your fabric by - it took about 2.5 weeks for mine to come in, although it was the holiday season.

Step 7: Scream on the phone with excitement when your husband calls to tell you it has been delivered. OK, so you don't have to do this, but I couldn't wait to see it!

Step 8: Cut each recipe from your fabric, keeping in mind the extra fabric you will need for your seam!

Step 9: Use an iron to create a sharp fold for your seam

Step 10: Sew

 Step 11: Use some of your scraps for a holder on the back if you plan to hang them on a hook.

Step 11: Admire!

There is so much history in a recipe and so many stories so share about the person who wrote them. I love that I will be reminded of my grandma everyday in my kitchen.