The Most Lovely Last Minute Linen Gift
Handmade gifts for the holiday are both thoughtful and beautiful. I have a last minute gift idea you can make out of your half yard or smaller scraps of linen or cotton.
If you have a little fabric stash and need gifts that you’re sure people will enjoy and use, consider making beautifully constructed kitchen towels or tea towels with the most lovely mitered corner. It’s easy and I will show you how. If you want another color and don’t have it on hand, you probably have time to order it quickly. One yard can make up to four tea towels.
First, find those scraps of linen or cotton and cut them to perfect rectangles or squares. The size of kitchen towels is apparently up for debate as I measured several I have purchased in stores and none of them are the same size! For the sake of this project, let’s say they are 15“ x 24“. Once you cut out your fabric into the correct size, bring it to the ironing board and press 1/4 inch around all of the edges. Start again pressing those same edges another 1/2 inch all the way around.
When you unfold the corners, you should see a little square has formed. Follow the pictures closely for more help. Fold the corners in like a triangle making the square shape lineup as shown with the lines you have created to either side.
Flip, pin and sew on that diagonal line created by the ironed triangle that I have marked with a pencil.Trim the excess edge beyond your seam as shown and then flip it right side out to reveal your beautifully mitered corner. Repeat this process on all four corners. 
Use a chopstick or pencil to push the little corners out evenly. Bring the project to your iron again, press neatly and then so all four sides down.
The final stitch can be done with a straight stitch or a decorative stitch if your machine has options. I used a scallop stitch here which turned out so pretty. On my Janome machine the scallop stitch is set on 5 and 0.5. The clean lines of a straight stitch is also a no fuss method and would definitely be better if you add a little hand stitched embroidery detail. These little embroidered details could be a sprig of flowers or lavender or the gift recipient’s initials.
To wrap this neatly as a gift you can tie it with scrap linen bows or package with other little gifts. Add-on suggestions include but are not limited to a lovely wooden spoon, homemade baked goods (the dry ingredients can be added with a recipe card) or a lovely jar of jam or honey!
As you will see that this project does not take much time but provides something practical we all need in our kitchen and reminds the recipient that you care enough to make them something.
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Alisha Cooke
Ma Ma Osa is a handmade clothing brand that offers heirloom quality garments and patterns, hand-made by a mother. We celebrate the cherished craft of sewing and seek to honor the art of slow fashion in all our practices as a brand.Leave a comment
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9 Comments
Mary Takacs
Lovely ideas. I can’t see that you cut off the selvage first??
Alisha Cooke
Yes. I washed and dried the fabric first and cut out the rectangle without the selvage. Happy sewing.
Jennifer Miller
So lovely! I’ve been practicing my mitered corners on napkins, lately. What weight is this linen you are using? Is the fabric pre-shrunk?
Alisha Cooke
I used 5.3 oz linen for this project and yes, I always pre wash and dry my fabric.
Corinne Steigerwald
What a lovely idea. Thank you for sharing. I do not see the pencil line either. It might be good to practice with paper, like origami, to get to the right way to stitch. And the edge trim is also very nice!
Alisha Cooke
What a great idea to try the corner with paper first! Thank you for that suggestion. Once you do it with one corner it all makes perfect sense! Yes, the picture up close to the sewing needle and the stitch sewing has the light pencil line and the picture where I trim off the excess fabric also shows it some but you may have to turn up your screen’s brightness. Happy sewing!
Christina Berdoulay
I would love a few more photos of the process, especially between the one where you show the triangle fold and the stitched and trimmed corner. I do not see the pencil mark indicating the diagonal sew line.
Alisha Cooke
Good morning Christina, Picture number 5 next to the sewing machine with the diagonal stitching has a light pencil mark. You may need to turn the brightness up on your computer screen. Photo 6 where I chop off the little excess fabric also shows the little line. I hope this helps. It’s a really sweet project. I’ve made several for family members! Happy sewing.
Lauren Linen
Hello Christina,
We have a tutorial for sewing mitred corners, which is the triangle folded corners. Here is a link, this should help 🙂
https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2018/12/05/sewing-glossary-how-to-sew-mitered-corners-tutorial/