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How to Make Children's Toys From Kitchen Towels

Kitchen towels come in a wide variety of colors and textures, making them excellent materials for stuffed children's toys. Larger, lightweight towels provide a lot of fabric for little cost. Bold, checkered kitchen towels are chock full of country charm. Two simple toy projects to make from kitchen towels are a doll and a stuffed bear. With moderate sewing machine skills and an afternoon, you can create simplistic, yet delightful, toys to be cherished by a child.

Things You'll Need

  • 3 checkered, lightweight cotton dish towels
  • 4-inch diameter felt circle - in a flesh tone
  • Fiberfill polyester stuffing
  • Straight pins
  • Scissors
  • Glue gun &glue sticks
  • Gathered eyelet lace
  • Permanent black marker
  • Ribbon---approximately 30 inches
  • Needle * optional
  • Sewing machine
  • Thread
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Instructions

  1. Doll from a Kitchen Towel

    • 1

      Cut a 15-inch piece of ribbon. Set aside.

    • 2

      Place one dishtowel on the table. Fold it so that it is diamond-shaped. The towel may be rectangular, so it may not be an exact diamond. The top "point" is the doll head.

    • 3

      Tie the right "point" into a knot as close to the towel hem as possible. Repeat for the left "point". These are the doll hands/arms. The doll is created using the same concept as the old-fashioned hanky dolls.

    • 4

      Fold top point down approximately 5-inches. Hold a fistful of fiberfill in your palm. Squeeze it to form a ball. Lift the folded top "point" and put the fiberfill ball under the fold, laying the point over the fiberfill. Grip the towel directly below the fiberfill, towel-covered ball in your fist. This is the head.

    • 5

      Tie a 15-inch ribbon, tightly around the towel in your fist (the neck). Tie a bow (It doesn't matter which side of the towel, but once tied, that will become the "front" of the doll).

    • 6

      Place the felt circle (face) on top of the front of the "ball"/head. Trim the circle to fit the front of the ball (no overlapping edges of felt).

    • 7

      Glue the felt circle to the head. Glue eyelet lace around the felt circle simulating a bonnet.

    • 8

      Use the permanent marker to draw two letter u's and a small o for two sleeping eyes and mouth. Add two dots for nostrils if desired. The rest of the towel is the baby's gown/body.

    Bear from a Kitchen Towel

    • 9

      Use a simple bear pattern, such as the free pattern in the reference link of this article. Print the pattern out and cut out two bear shapes from towels. Pin the edges, leaving a 3-inch opening between the legs.

    • 10

      Sew, using a straight stitch, with a ½-inch seam allowance, on the sewing machine, leaving the unsewn the 3-inch opening. Remove pins.

    • 11

      Reach through opening and turn bear right side out. Stuff with fiberfill. Sew the opening closed.

    • 12

      Tie a piece of ribbon in a bow around the neck.


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