Yet another gift has been completed for in-laws of my in-laws.  This relatively quick and easy project can serve its original purpose as a linen guest towel or as a Christmas banner.
The linen guest towels come in a variety of styles. Some have hemstitching at both ends while others have only a 1/2″ turned hem at the plain end. This one, with hemstitching forming the casing at the top and three rows of hemstitching, met my need for a decorative casing as well as hemstitching suitable for a few rows of ribbon.
The embroidery design, Peace on Earth with Dove Tree, is from one of my favorite design sites, Embroidery Library www.emblibrary.com
The white banner behind the text was very dense and seemed too heavy for the relatively light weight linen. So using my BuzzEdit2, I reduced the density by 20%.Â
Then I did what I so often do when I want to avoid bulk.  I used 80 wt. Madeira Cotona thread, the fine thread used for heirloom sewing. This gives satisfactory results if it is stitching tone on tone, white on white in this case.Â
The other situation that will enable success is when complete coverage is not required. For example, I have used a denim blue heirloom thread for denim pants in an embroidery design. That gave a look nearly identical to denim.
After finishing the embroidery, I was disappointed and felt that the piece was short on color. I wanted a rather pristine snow scene, but this was more bland than I expected. After weaving ribbon through the two styles of hemstitching, I liked it much better. Just as in smocking, it is best to chose ribbon first and then match embroidery thread to it.
Having a stash of these linen guest towel is such a godsend at this time of year. They can be repurposed for anything from baby pillows to banners to baby bonnets…and more. If only it were another month until Christmas, I would be dancing in the sewing room. I sew prefer sewing to shopping.
But I have only 3 more days. Because of these guest towels, I have a little more peace on earth, instead of stress at the mall.
