10 Creative, Alternative Uses for Tea Towels

Posted by Tori Radday on Jul 5th 2017

Hello! Ah, the tea towel: an essential for any kitchen. We all own at least a couple tea towels that serve as workhorses in the kitchen. You may use your tea towels to dry your dishes, add style to your kitchen, keep fresh dishes such as a pie or bread warm, dry your hands or line a serving tray or bowl but there are countless other uses for your handy little tea towels. Today we've rounded up ten of our favorite creative, alternative uses for tea towels to share with you all, keep reading to check them out:

1. Gift wrapping for a bottle of wine. Forget the gift bag; next time you gift someone a bottle of wine, try gift wrapping it in a cute kitchen towel. It's an environmentally-friendly AND practical alternative to a plain old boring gift bag. And still affordable! See how to gift wrap a bottle of wine here.

2. Creating an easy DIY bib for your little one. Your children will love the kitchen towel bibs you make them! Check out this DIY here to see how to make one yourself.

3. Using them as guest towels in the bathroom. Don't restrict your favorite tea towels to the kitchen alone. 

4. Sewing them together to create a cute pillow. Give one of your outdated pillows an update with a charming tea towel. One thing we love about this tea towel DIY idea? It's incredibly easy, this tutorial here will walk you through it.

5. Lining a gift basket. Make a gift basket truly special by lining it with a cute kitchen towel. And unlike tissue paper or paper basket filler, a dish towel is something that the recipient of the gift will actually use and appreciate. And it's even better for the environment too!

6. Creating a stylish tote bag. Perfect for toting with you to the pool, library, grocery store, etc. Follow this DIY here to create your own.

7. Using them as placemats. The cute designs of tea towels also make them great placemats.

8. Making adorable aprons for your children. You children will love having their own little aprons and will be eager to help you out in the kitchen. See how to accomplish this DIY yourself here.

9. Creating a DIY slipcover. Update any chair in your home with style by creating your own DIY seat slipcover. Check out a DIY tutorial to make your own here.

10. Making your own affordable wall art. Want to create visual interest in your home on a budget? Use a chic tea towel as art on the wall in your home. There are so many different designs, colors and styles of tea towels that you can really tailor this DIY to your tastes. We offer hundreds of different kitchen towels so you can find the perfect one for your home. Since this is such an affordable DIY project as well, you could switch things up every season with a new one appropriate for that time of year. Wouldn't a pink flamingo one look great right now in your home for summer? This DIY also makes a sweet gift for friends and family members- it's affordable and you can completely customize it. And what's better than that? See a tutorial for doing so here.

We've also rounded up a few of our favorite dish towels perfect for the alternative uses featured above. Keep reading to check them out:

Mary B Decorative Art

1. Wine Lovers Grapes Corkscrews 28 Inch Jacquard Print Kitchen Tea Towel. We think that this wine lover tea towel would be especially great for idea #1!

2. Nautical Anchor Compass Ship's Wheel Kitchen 18 x 28 Inch Tea Towel Kay Dee. This would work wonderfully for idea #7.

3. Another Day In Paradise Hot Pink Flamingo Tea Kitchen Dish Towel. Wouldn't this tea towel look cute transformed into a chic pillow?

4. Home to Roost Chicken Red Green Chambray 28 Inch Kitchen Dish Tea Towel. Can you just picture this farmhouse chic tea towel as a stylish tote bag perfect for toting with you to the farmer's market?

5. On Island Time Tropical Fish Swimming Tea Kitchen Dish Towel. We think that this "on island time" tea towel would work particularly well for idea #10.