DIY COLORING PAGE TEA TOWELS

I am all about the adult coloring trend that has been popular for the past year or so.  Anything that gets full grown people make use of their creativity is great in my book.  I hate that so many people just throw those coloring pages away when they are finished, though.  I wondered if there was a way to get all the fun of coloring, but in an application that leaves you with something that has a practical use.

I honestly had the idea for this project in a dream — no joke.  I dreamed of coloring pages printed on towels, which could then be colored in with fabric markers.  After a bit of real-life experimenting, this is my end result.  The how-to is fairly simple, so I hope you will give it a try yourself.

I created my “coloring pages” by making patterns on the tea towels by block printing.  Block printing is similar to stamping, but instead of using soft stamps you use wooden (or acrylic) blocks and ink.  I used fabric inks that will not wash out of fabrics once set.  If you want a tutorial on how to block print, check out the block printed make-up bag I made last year.

After the block printed patterns dried, I colored the patterns just like a coloring page.  Instead of using regular art markers, I used special markers that are designed to color on fabric.  These are also permanent on fabric once they have set.

The process of coloring these tea towels is just as fun and calming as coloring on paper, but when I was finished I had pretty, functional kitchen towels!

I block printed the towels and colored them myself, but you could give a set of printed, but uncolored, towels and a set of fabric markers as a gift.  Wouldn’t that make a unique gift for Mother’s Day?

I am excited about this project, and hope that you will give it a try.  If you make a set of towels, or any of my other projects, PLEASE share on social media and tag me.  I love seeing your projects!

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