Kitchen Towel Hanger Tutorial

My mom and I enjoy exchanging dish towels at Christmastime. This year I am planning to do a little embroidery work on regular flour sack type towels for her & I thought I may be able to dress them up a bit by creating a hanger for them.

I actually made these in October when I saw the new Linkup Party for sharing tips and tutorials, a monthly linkup hosted by Sew and Sow Farms, however, I ran into a few flaws as I created them and therefore missed the Inaugural Linkup.
They were set aside until the last minute of course, and this morning I spent some time coming up with a technique that will hang well:

Materials:

* 2 pieces fabric cut 5.5" square
* 1" x 6" fabric to make piping
* 2" x 10" fabric to make ruffle (prepare ruffle by folding in half lengthwise, press ends in 1/4", gather to approximately 4.5", and baste.
* 6" x 1/2" wide elastic
* 5.5" square batting
* 6" piece ricrac or ribbon for hanger
* 4>5" square white tagboard (I used the cardboard from a cheap fat quarter)

Start by gathering materials, and completing any custom work you would like to add. Embroidery would be nice! I added the applique berry and ricrac to one, then made piping and ruffles for the other two.

After basting the piping, then the ruffle, I folded and pinned the corners of the ruffles in before sandwiching.

Layer the front and back pieces, right sides together, setting the elastic between, horizontally, about 1 1/2 to 2" from the top. Set the batting on top of those and pin or clip the sandwich together.

 Sew 1/4" in, around the sides and bottom, leaving the top edge open. Clip corners, and I like to finger press the top edge at this point, before turning right side out.

 Turn right side out, with the elastic landing on the backside, and tidy the corners.

Slip the cardboard in the top opening

 Pin or clip the top edge, inserting the hanger in the middle.

Stitch across the top, very close to the edge.

Top stitch all edges if desired!
I only did this on one of mine..

Backside..

This last photo shows how flimsy these were the first run through, before I added the cardboard. My fix really worked, in that it has kept them from bowing when the towel is hung, however this means they can only be spot-washed. Using heavy interfacing may be a good option!

Wish I had had time to finish some embroidery work!

Linking up with Sew Simple Saturday!
Next month I plan to do a Christmas project:)