Craft: Kitchen Dish Towels

Angel Herrick
Sep 19
3 min read

Updated: Sep 21

There were quite a few laughs during our last friends’ crafting event, whether it was trying to figure out where to hang over 20 dishtowels to dry or Shana thinking an actual banana would make a great stamp for the towels. However, all in all, this craft turned out to be quite a success.

We got some plain, white, flour sack towels, and made citrus print dishtowels using acrylic paints and real fruit! They turned out SO cute (well, most of them–not the ones that I accidentally tried to walk under and smeared the towels and got paint all over my back–true story)!

We found the idea on Instagram earlier in the year and had been wanting to try it. Although, we always worry about if it is going to be an “amazing” or “less than amazing” project. Sometimes the crafts that should seem easy turn out not so great and fairly difficult, so Shana and I deemed those “less than amazing”. However, this one turned out pretty amazing in my book. They are going to make great gifts this holiday season for my in-laws. You could also use them as host/hostess gifts, or better yet, have your kids make them for their grandparents!

First, I washed all the towels, and then we ironed them to get most of the wrinkles out. We cut some citrus (we used lemons, limes, and oranges) in half and cut out the “meat” of the fruit (but we left the membranes for the print). I squeezed out some of the juice first to make it less messy and that didn’t wreck the membrane.

After we got most of the membrane out, we turned the fruit over and let it dry for just a bit on paper towels. Maybe 15 minutes while we got the paint ready (we probably should have left them to dry longer, but we were impatient). We mixed a ratio of 1:1 acrylic paint and fabric medium on paper plates. The posts that I saw differed on whether to use a fabric medium or not, but I highly recommend it. The medium helps the paint adhere to the fabric. The towels looked great even after washing.

This is where the strategies differed. We spread the towels out on cardboard, and we each painted the fruit on the inner membranes and on the outer rim of the fruit half. I used yellow with a lemon, green with a lime, and orange with an orange. Some people dipped their fruit directly in the paint on the paper plate. I painted the membrane and edge using a kids paintbrush (dipping the brush into the paint instead of the fruit). I thought that made it turn out more exact. You just have to make sure you are not just stamping the edge of the fruit (I actually trimmed some of the edge down) because then you are just printing circles. You have to get that inner membrane to make the print too. We used one towel for practice which helped.

Then, we did whatever pattern felt fun for each of us. Some of us did rows of just one fruit, some did alternating rows of lemons/limes, some did groups of three fruits, and so forth. Then, we started branching out and getting a little more creative.

We pulled out all my cookie cutters, and our friend Nicole painted the inside of a cookie cutter shaped like a pear onto the towel. It turned out great! Because we are sentimental, we also did a towel with all our handprints on it. I got to keep that one since we were all at my house. That would be a GREAT one for kids to make for grandparents.

I decided to give mine to some of our parents this holiday season, so I found one of my favorite hand soaps for the kitchen in a citrus scent and will wrap the towels around the soap. So fun! We had a great time, and whether it’s a girls’ night craft or a project with your kids, I hope you have tons of fun making citrus print towels too!