Hand Towel? Dish Towel? Kitchen Towel?
I have been having a real long debate with myself over this. What is the difference between a hand towel, a kitchen towel, a dish towel, or even a tea towel? I grew up with dish towels in the kitchen at home and hand towels in the bath room. I don’t think I ever met a kitchen towel and a tea towel was never mentioned.
Why am I curious? Well, I have handwoven cotton towels that could be used as hand towels in the bath, dish towels in the pantry, kitchen towels in the kitchen, or tea towels in the parlor, and I don’t know which to call them.
Does the size of the towel make the difference, maybe the type of material it is woven from, or is it location, location, location? I’m curious about what the rest of the world calls them. Take a look at the cotton towels I weave and let me know what you would name them.
I look forward to your comments!
Vila
I’m a weaver, too, and I enjoy making DISH TOWELS. That’s what we called them at home, and I still do. I’ve made huck lace ones but what I most like is simple stripes and plaids (and I always use Fibonacci ratios). What cottons do you use? I like Homestead Cotton from Halcyon Yarn in Maine. It has a rustic, country, homespun look and feel to it, especially after I’ve run the fininshed towels through the washer and dryer.
How do you finish the raw edges? I turn up 1/4″ and run them through the sewing machine; then turn up another 1/4″ and hem by hand. The machine stitching doesn’t show on the outside of the towel, but does serve to flatten that first layer of hem. Still, I’m not entirely happy with somewhat thick hems. I’ve consider leaving a fringed edge but wonder how that would hold up with longterm use.
Your weavings are quite beautiful. I’m inspired!
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I love weaving towels even though they aren’t the most profitable weaving I could do:-) I would call your towels — “towels for kitchen or bath”. Then people can feel free to use them where they make the most sense — decoratively speaking!
I use a plain weave hem on my towels and usually use a finer thread for the hems so that they aren’t bulky and don’t flare out wider than the structure of the towel. I almost always use machine stitching on my towels, but hand hem my napkins. Go figure!