Embroidery on Towels

Embroidering on towels is a great and simple way to change the look of your kitchen or bathroom for the season or for special occasions. This tutorial will give you the tools to decide which designs and stabilizers work best for your towel project!

Gather Materials:

To craft your embroidered towel, you will need:

Your favorite embroidery design(s) - I am using the 5 x 7" design of the Summer Tastes Strawberry for this example
Towel(s)
Thread for your embroidery
Medium weight cutaway stabilizer for painterly and stitch-filled designs OR tear away stabilizer for light running stitch designs
Water-soluble stabilizer such as Sulky Solvy (for heavy pile towels)
Temporary spray adhesive
Scissors
Optional: Printed templates of your designs, to help with placement (here's how to print templates)

Embroidery supplies on a wood surface: white towels, instruction sheets, nine colorful thread spools, two Sulky stabilizer rolls, scissors, and a white needlework hoop.

The designs used in this tutorial include:

Summer Tastes - Strawberries

Let's start with your towel type! Different types of fabric work better with certain embroidery designs. They also are compatible with different stabilizers. Before you begin, make sure you are using the appropriate designs and stabilizers for best results...

Five white towels arranged fanned out on a wooden surface. One towel has three blue stripes near the edge, the others are plain white with no visible embroidery.

Thinner towels such as flour sack and tea towels work best for light-stitching, open designs. You can use a layer of tear away stabilizer adhered to the back of the fabric with temporary spray adhesive for these projects.

Since medium weight cutaway stabilizer can show through thinner fabrics, tear away stabilizer can be a good choice for these towels. Tear away doesn't provide quite as much stability as cutaway, but with light and open designs this should be OK.

Hand holding a white towel with a stitched circular patch sewn onto the towel's fabric, showing the patch turned slightly outward.

Terrycloth and waffle cloth towels are considered "high pile," which means the surface or nap of the fabric is "fluffy" or has a fuzzy texture. Because embroidery on these surfaces tends to sink or get lost into the fabric, we recommend painterly designs or designs with solid fills for these towels. Running stitch could easily "disappear" into the texture of the towel.

We recommend using a medium weight cutaway stabilizer, adhered to the back of your fabric with temporary spray adhesive. We also recommend using a water-soluble stabilizer (such as Sulky Solvy) on top of the towel, to prevent the stitches from sinking into the pile.

Two types of white cloth shown side by side on a dark wooden surface. Top is soft, plush terrycloth labeled "TERRY CLOTH." Bottom is textured waffle cloth with a grid pattern labeled "WAFFLE CLOTH.

Once you have matched your materials, spray your cutaway or tear away stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive.

A hand sprays a white stabilizer sheet with adhesive spray labeled "REYNOLDS 77 20" on a wooden surface, next to a folded white waffle-textured towel.

Lay your towel flat, and smooth the stabilizer over the back of the area you wish to embroider.

A hand with a ring rests on a white textured towel with a square woven pattern, placed on a dark wooden surface.

If you are using a high pile fabric, cut a piece of water-soluble stabilizer for the top of your towel.

A hand holding a clear plastic sheet over a white waffle-weave towel on a wooden surface. No embroidery or lettering visible.

Start Embroidering:

If you have printed a template, you can check your design positioning on your towel by lining up the crosshairs with the vertical and horizontal points on your hoop. Use an air-erase or water-erase pen to mark your crosshairs to ensure perfect positioning.

I am using the 5 x 7" design of the Summer Tastes Strawberry for this example.

Hand with painted nails holding embroidery hoop with a printed strawberry and leaves pattern on white fabric with waffle texture.

Make sure all of your layers of fabric and stabilizer are hooped taut together to prevent your stitches from shifting or gapping during the stitching process.

Close-up of a hand holding a white waffle-textured fabric folded with a piece of translucent stabilizer underneath. Wood surface below.

If you are placing your embroidery towards the edge of your towel, make sure to hoop your medium weight cutaway stabilizer completely, then adhere the towel to the stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive and hoop up the bottom section of the towel fabric.

Remember to shift your center starting point on your machine to align with the template center if you are using this method.

Hand holding a paper print of an embroidery design showing lemons and leaves, placed over a white textured towel with an embroidery hoop on a wooden surface.

Begin stitching! As your design stitches out, you can see how the top layer of water-soluble stabilizer is creating an even plane for your embroidery to sit on.

Close-up of embroidery on white waffle-weave fabric showing three bright red strawberries with green leaves and light blue decorative stitches.

Once your design is finished stitching, pull off the top layer of water-soluble stabilizer, if you used it.

Close-up of a hand peeling back transparent film from a red strawberry embroidery with green leaves on a white textured fabric background.

Use tweezers to get the hard-to-get pieces of stabilizer off your towel...

Close-up of a hand using tweezers to place or adjust beads on embroidered large red strawberries with green leaves on white textured fabric.

.. and finally use a damp sponge if you have any leftover stabilizer.

Hand cleaning a white waffle-weave towel with colorful strawberry and flower embroidery using a green sponge on a wooden surface.

Turn your towel over and tear away the excess tear away stabilizer, or trim the cutaway stabilizer as close to the design as possible.

Close-up of an embroidered fabric piece with a partially stitched design, colorful threads, and a hand holding small scissors trimming fabric on a textured white surface.

What you are left with is a beautifully stitched towel!

Close-up of a white textured towel with colorful embroidered strawberries, green leaves, and small blue and red flowers on a wooden surface.

Get Inspired:

Stitch up a set of towels to celebrate the season, holidays, or to switch up your decor! These simple additions can change and set the mood for your room.

Two white waffle-weave towels hanging on an oven handle; one embroidered with strawberries and green leaves, the other with a pineapple and pink flowers.