Book Review

I confess I am a craft book junkie. For Christmas I received two new craft books. One was Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel. This is a cute book with as the title suggest dozens of ways to use a tea towel. While I haven't had a chance to try any project yet they all look quick and easy. And really you could use any type of fabric for any of the projects in the book (like a fat quarter). I have a few of those linen novelty tea towels in my stash. I think the first project I am going to try is the last project in the book a adorable reusable shopping bag with a wooden handle. Also pictured on the front cover.


I just won an auction on Shop Goodwill for a collection of vintage tea towels several of which are those calendar towels. I hope the are in good enough condition to use for the projects in this book. There is a lunch roll that would be handy for putting on my lap while eating my lunch at work. I always seem to get food all over myself as I usually eat in my car when it is cold outside. I think the slippers are a clever use of a print tea towel I may want to try.

Some projects only use small pieces of the towels. Such as the eye glass holder, the tissue case or the stash your cash wallet. Most of the projects use only one tea towel and a few use some other coordinating fabric to finish the project. There are even a few garments made out of tea towels including a halter top for an adult and a few child skirts and aprons. At the beginning of the book you can find information about the history of tea towels and what exactly a tea towel is along with basic sewing information. Since every project was created by a different person as part of the challenge there is a section at the back of the book about the designers. I am looking forward to checking out their web sites and blogs.