An Upcycled Gift for Mom

To me, there is nothing better than handmade, upcycled gifts. I love receiving and giving them, but before I share what I am sewing this week, I need to issue a spoiler alert for my mom. So, Mom, stop reading this!

Okay, now that I sent my mom away, let me share how I made my Mother’s Day upcycled & embroidered napkins with a matching tea towel.

The first thing I did was head to my favorite thrift store here in Colorado, ARC, where I purchased a set of eight napkins in perfect condition for $5.99. You really can’t beat that.

I then decided to use this cute Starburst Trio embroidery design. I love a little mid-mod kitchen décor, and I think my mom will too.

I ran into an issue, though. I am not a super experienced machine embroiderer, and my amazing estate sale find of a machine is great, but it didn’t come with the original embroidery hoop templates. So, my first attempt at embroidering a napkin was a FAIL! I couldn’t get the starburst centered on the folded napkin, and it’s partially hidden on the fold. 

After a little research, I found this fantastic YouTube video by Power Tools with Thread on creating custom hoop templates using plastic quilting grid material. Check it out!

I followed her instructions and VIOLA! Now I can perfectly place my embroidery designs on my projects. I used Wrights Quilter’s Gridded Plastic Template to make my hoop template.

Once I made my custom hoops, I was in business. I embroidered four napkins with starburst designs and then made a coordinating towel using a plain flour sack tea towel. I buy these by the pack and have them in my stash to make gifts like this. They are great for dying, block printing, or creating iron-on transfers with a cutting machine. I really love them!

I will wrap up this sweet little set and give it to my mom on Mother’s Day. I hope she loves her upcycled gift as much as I loved making it. Check back tomorrow for even more Mother’s Day sewing ideas. I have a special tutorial for ya!

Happy sewing,

Sadie