Dunroven Towels
May 10th, 2007 by Penny Haren
Jennie Brockman, the book and gift buyer, mentioned that Checker would have the Dunroven towel display in our booth at Market. And that’s all it took to get our creative juices flowing!Â
What if we thought of them in a whole new way. What if we weren’t selling towels – what if we were selling  a 20″ x 28″ piece of the highest quality homespun for around $3.00 – that came in 234 different patterns???Â
Pat Berry, our showroom manager, embroidered a towel with a beautiful phrase she found in the book – Quilts with a Message (Item #QWM). But that is the ONLY towel that wasn’t cut up, clipped, or frayed!
She also made the Perfect Pullover shirt from an Indygo Junction pattern (IJ773). It took 7 towels for this three-quarter length shirt – that is less than $21.00! She said that it only took a few hours to complete – and I love the detailing. The bottom of the shirt is made like an old-fashioned wrap skirt – really cute – and drapes well when you are sitting down!Â
Melanie, at my shop, made the Bucket Tote from Joan Hawley’s Bold Bag book ( b) - it only takes four towels (that includes the lining) - and it coordinates with the shirt!  I love this book – seven bag patterns for $8.95 is an absolute steal – and you know the quality is there because it was designed by the original Lazy Girl! We embellished it with handles (EY28304) and a flower (EY28317) from the Exclusively You line of accessories.Â
 THEN, I coerced my “adopted” Mom, Rae Howard, into using a white cotton towel for the foundation of an embroidered table runner. She chose a basket pattern from the book – Vintage Tinted Linens (DO5152). The thickness of the towel hid the knots and worked great. Melanie sewed three – 2″ strips together for the sides and added nine-patches at the corners – how cute!
Next, Pat transformed a towel with a beautiful hem-stitched edging into the most elegant monogrammed pillow! She even ran threads through the hem-stitching to add that “awe” factor that we all love. It looks like something out of a Trading Spaces episode. These towels look like linen – and are SO reasonable!!!
Last, but not least, Pat cut eight towels into 12 – 6″ squares each. She used 1/2″ seams, to sew the cutest raggy/shaggy baby quilt that measures 30″ x 40″ – a perfect size for that little one. And, since these towels retail for just under $3.00; you can make a baby quilt for less than $25.00 if you use scraps of your own batting! AND, since you quilt it as you go, you don’t have to send it out to be quilted – so it is an affordable – and adorable – baby quilt!Â
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Check out Stitchin’ for the Kitchen, my book chocked full of designs and projects made from Dunroven Towels. I have trunk shows available from samples in my book.