#179 Hand Dyed Hand print Kitchen Towels

This was a present that the kids both had a "hand" in making for all the grandparents and great grandparent for Christmas. We used leftover fabric, fabric paint & heat & bond, tea to hand dye the towel, and purchased a towel from Fleet Farm.

This is simple enough to make but have several steps to it that make it a little time consuming.

Directions:

* Boil a pot of water large enough to fit in the amount of towels you are dying.

* Steep tea for about 20 minutes (we used about 8 tea bags per gallon of water)

* Soak towels in tea for approximately 30 minutes (leaving it longer, may dye the color darker if that is desired)

* Wash the towels w/o soap and dry

* Iron towels

* Trace hands onto a piece of paper

* Cut out squares of fabric and heat&bond that are just barely larger than the hand print

* Iron fabric on to one side of the heat&bond

* Trace hand onto backside of heat&bond (on the paper part)

* Cut out hand print

* Iron hand print on to towel

* Paint on names & year with fabric paint (my daughter wrote her own name on the towel in a permanent marker and then I traced over it in fabric paint)

* Paint around edges of hand prints (this will make sure the edges stay down)

Also, be sure to let your used tea cool to room temperature and then use water your plants.