Thanksgiving Turkey Hand Towel. Gobble, Gobble.
It’s Thanksgiving month, so it’s time to start talking turkey. I recently made this simple Turkey Hand Towel, and I thought I’d share it with you. It would be great to give as a gift to the person hosting your Thanksgiving feast, or to make with your kids for a fun craft together.
I made mine from canvas because I always have some on hand from the various drop cloth projects I’m always doing, but you can also make this with a flour sack towel or even a large linen napkin.
I made my towel first by cutting a piece of canvas to approximately 19″ x 32″. Then, I finished each edge by folding over twice and hemming all around.
To get a pattern for the turkey’s body, I just used this turkey clip art, printed it at 150%, then cut around the body, excluding the feathers.
Then I just lightly traced the body shape onto the towel with a pencil. (I left the feet off of mine also to keep the image very simple.)
Next, I just used a little craft paint to fill in the outline. I used this Raw Umber color by DecoArt Americana because it’s a great muddy drab shade…
And the funniest thing happened right as I was painting this… My husband started yelling for me to look out the window, so I ran to see what the fuss was all about. And there in our yard were at least 14 wild turkeys running around.
And this was after having just spotted this big guy in our yard a few days before…
This might be normal for those of you who live out in the country or on a farm, but we live in a somewhat busy neighborhood, so this was a little surprising!
Anyway, back to the towel…
For the “feathers” I used some ivory eyelet lace.
I cut one piece around 4 inches, and one around 3 inches long.
Then, I turned each raw edge and sewed to give them a clean finish.
Once the paint was dry, I sewed the longer eyelet piece about 1/2″ to 1″ above the turkey, curving it as I sewed to get it to stand up a little.
The next layer was done the same way, slightly overlapping the first layer.
For a little something extra, I used my little alphabet stamps to add the “Gobble Gobble”.
And that’s it! Since the paint and ink are permanent, it’s machine washable, so whip up a few of these for gifts or keep them to decorate for Turkey Day! These would make great placemats for the kids’ table, too!
Linking up with a few of these fun parties. Check them out for more inspiration!
November 9, 2012 @ 12:09 am
Super cute. I love that real wild turkeys showed up in your yard.
Blessings,
Lorilee
November 9, 2012 @ 2:09 am
Julie- What a cute, cute idea. When I saw the eyelet I thought WHAT??? But..WOW did that turn out cute. I love it. You never see towels for Thanksgiving, do you? Great job! xo Diana
November 9, 2012 @ 7:41 am
This turned out completely lovely! I really love the eyelet lace feathers — such a fun little touch! And how awesome to be able to see that wildlife outside of your very own window! 🙂
November 11, 2012 @ 3:21 pm
Very cute! And that is so funny about the turkeys in the yard. Ha
November 11, 2012 @ 11:42 pm
So cute!! Found you over on Edie's blog with your DIY Felt Scarf post (stinking ahh-dorable!). 🙂
– Claire
November 12, 2012 @ 3:45 am
Loved it so much I featured it on my "Best of The Weekend" post! 🙂
November 14, 2012 @ 4:07 am
You are BRILLIANT!! I saw this on Pinterest today!! LOVE it!