Applique Pumpkin Tea Towel Tutorial

As summer ends and the temperatures start falling – or at least quit being so unbearably hot – it’s fun to add fall accents to your house.

This applique pumpkin tea towel brings a fall vibe to your kitchen. I’m loving the mix of patterns on the different sections of the pumpkin! And the light teal is kind of an unexpected color for a pumpkin and that makes me happy.

Plus, pom poms! Did I mention this towel has pom pom trim across the bottom? Everything is made cuter with pom pom trim!

I’ve got a tutorial and free pattern for you below.

I used to always just look for plain tea towels to embellish with applique, but lately I’ve begun sewing my tea towels. I like the idea of using a patterned tea towel as the base for my applique, and there’s just so much more selection at the fabric store than in the housewares department at the discount store.

I use a home décor cotton that has a nice weight and is more absorbent than a quilting weight cotton. And you can get 2 towels from 1 yard of fabric, which is kind of perfect for gift giving.

Of course, there’s nothing saying you HAVE to sew your own towel. So if you’ve got a towel that you like, you can just skip over the instructions for sewing your own towel and get straight to the applique.

Pull out your scrap bin to build the pumpkin design. The pieces are pretty small so you can make use of your tiniest scraps for this project.

Supplies

22” x 30” home dec weight cotton, prewashed to shrink (or a purchased tea towel)

Fabric scraps for the pumpkin applique

Fusible webbing

22” pom pom trim

Water soluble fabric marking pen (Do not use a Frixion pen or other ink that disappears with heat.)

Free pattern

Make the tea towel

Hem all 4 sides of your 22” x 30” piece of fabric with a 3/8” double-fold hem. I like to miter the corners but it’s not necessary.

A double-fold hem is just like it sounds. The edge is folded over twice so the raw edge is completely encased. You can sew the hem in place by stitching close to the folded edge.

Add the applique

Cut out the paper placement guide.

Center the placement guide across your towel, roughly 2.5” from the bottom. Trace around the placement guide with the water soluble marking pen.

Trace pattern pieces to the back (paper side) of your fusible webbing, then follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse the webbing to the back of your fabrics. The pattern pieces are already reversed and ready to be traced. Cut all of your pieces out of the fabric.

Follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse the pieces down to the towel, in the order shown below. Line up the edges of the pieces with the outline you traced. Topstitch around each piece to secure it before moving on to the next piece.

TIP: When sewing around tight curves, reduce your stitch length for a smoother curve and more control. You may also need to hand crank the machine through the tightest curves.

Piece 1