Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

kitchen towels

Why Not All Towels Are the Same: Weaving Kitchen, Hand & Bath Towels

by 8 Comments

I find that towels are one of the most satisfying things to weave. They are practical, gift-worthy, and so customisable. If you’ve ever wondered how to weave towels that are absorbent, durable and enjoyable to use, this guide will walk you through what you need to know.

Not all towels are created equal. A kitchen towel has different demands to a hand towel, and a bath towel is a whole other level again.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the three main types of towels you can weave – kitchen towels, hand towels and bath towels. We will talk about:

  • suitable yarns for each
  • suitable loom types
  • weave structure considerations
  • and links to patterns and resources if you want a proven starting point

1. Kitchen Towels (Tea Towels)

Kitchen towels (we call them tea towels in Australia!) are usually the first towels handweavers make, and they’re an excellent place to start if you’re learning how to weave towels.

Kitchen towels are such a great place to start. They’re quick to weave, highly practical, and a fantastic way to experiment with colour, structure and yarns.

What a kitchen towel needs to do:

  • Be highly absorbent
  • Dry quickly
  • Stand up to frequent washing
  • Feel pleasant but not fluffy

Best yarns for kitchen towels (absorbent & durable)

  • Cotton (8/2 or 10/2 is ideal)
  • Cotton-linen blends (I love 8/2 cottolin for kitchen towels)
  • Linen (beautiful, but better for experienced weavers)

Avoid wool or acrylic – they simply don’t absorb well enough. They will repel, rather than absorb moisture.

I have a more detailed article about which cotton to use for kitchen towels here.

Best looms for weaving kitchen towels

Kitchen towels are very forgiving and work beautifully on a variety of looms.

Best weave structures for kitchen towels

2. Hand Towels

Hand towels bridge the gap between kitchen towels and bath towels. They need to be practical, but they’re also something you see and touch every day in the bathroom or kitchen.

Hand towels sit somewhere between kitchen towels and bath towels – they need to be absorbent, but also soft and attractive. They are usually thicker in weight and larger in size than a kitchen towel.

What a hand towel needs to do

  • Absorb water efficiently
  • Feel good against the skin
  • Look nice hanging in a bathroom or kitchen

Best yarns for weaving hand towels

  • 8/4 cotton (will weave a thicker fabric than 8/2 cotton)
  • Cottolin (cotton/linen blend – once again a heavier weight is preferable)
  • Knitting cotton
  • Cotton blends (choose natural fibres)

You can afford to prioritise softness and loftiness here more than with kitchen towels.

Best looms for weaving hand towels

If weaving on a rigid heddle loom, consider using pick up sticks or two heddles to allow for more interesting structures.

Best weave structures for hand towels

3. Bath Towels

Bath towels are the most advanced towel project for handweavers because they are a large size and may require a more significant time investment if using a technique like loop pile (keep reading if that piques your interest!)

Bath towels are the most ambitious towel project, but can be very rewarding.

What a bath towel needs to do

  • Be very absorbent
  • Feel soft against the skin
  • Be strong enough for heavy use
  • Have good drape
  • Be regular wash friendly

Best yarns for weaving bath towels

  • Fine cotton (8/2 or finer)
  • Unmercerised cotton for maximum absorbency
  • Cotton/bamboo blends for softness
  • Other plant fibres can also be used successfully, like hemp, for example.

Bath towels usually require more yarn and more weaving time, so quality matters.

Best looms for weaving bath towels

While bath towels can be woven on rigid heddle looms, width limitations often mean compromises or seaming. This won’t be an issue if your RH loom is 32″ or larger.

Best weave structures for bath towels

  • Waffle weave (classic bath towel structure)
  • Twill variations
  • Textured blocks
  • Loop pile or cut pile. Loop pile is the technique used for most commercially available towels. Cut loop is a little more luxurious and velvety but can be less absorbent. The loop pile technique is not hard to learn and is worked on a plain weave backing. My Lux Hand Towels pattern used loop pile as a decorative border.

Syne Mitchell has a handy section on loop pile in her book Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, page 178- 181.

How to Choose the Right Towel Project for Your Loom and Skill Level

If you’re new to weaving towels, start with kitchen towels. Once you’re comfortable with yarn behaviour, finishing and shrinkage, move on to hand towels, and then tackle bath towels when you’re ready for a bigger commitment.

Each type teaches you something different, and all of them result in something genuinely useful.

Towel Weaving Resources (Kitchen, Hand & Bath)

If you’d like to learn more about weaving towels, I have a range of resources to help:

  • Kitchen towel patterns → 

Diamond Stripe Towels

Happy Fibonnaci Towels

Bright & Beautiful Towels

Floor Loom 4 Shaft Class Towels

  • Hand towel patterns → 

Lux Hand Towels

Wash Your Hands Towels (free pattern)

These patterns remove the guesswork so you can focus on enjoying the weaving. Here are some other resources related to weaving towels:

Frequently Asked Questions About Weaving Towels

What is the best yarn for weaving towels?

For most towel projects, cotton yarn is the best choice due to its absorbency, durability and ease of care. I like 8/2 unmercerised cotton as it’s so easy to work with. Linen and cotton blends can also be used, particularly for kitchen and hand towels.

Can you weave towels on a rigid heddle loom?

Yes! Kitchen towels and hand towels are very well suited to rigid heddle looms. Bath towels are possible, but width limitations often make table or floor looms a better choice.

What weave structure is best for towels?

Waffle weave is one of the most popular structures for towels because of its excellent absorbency, but plain weave, twill and honeycomb can all work beautifully depending on the towel type.

Final tip: Always sample when in doubt. Towels change dramatically after washing, and sampling will tell you more than any chart ever could. This is especially important for weave structures like waffle weave, which has higher rates of shrinkage than plain weave.

I hope this guide has been super helpful to you 😊

Until next time…

Happy weaving!

*This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy here.

Ask Kelly – Which cotton weight for kitchen towels?

by 5 Comments

Appropriate yarns and cotton weight for kitchen towels is a subject that pops up regularly in the weaving world. Seasoned towel weavers usually have their favourites and have good reasons for doing so, I know that I certainly do!

Today’s question is specifically about a good yarn weight for kitchen towels, but it provides a good opportunity for discussing other important aspects of yarn in general for kitchen towels.

“Hi Kelly! I have a question that I just cannot seem to get answered! 

Would it work to get a decent weight kitchen towel if I use 8/2 cotton, double weave and a 10 dent reed? I do not have another size of reed. I have an Ashford Rigid Heddle loom. 

I just worry that it won’t be a good weight…I so appreciate your help. I love your classes and have several of them! “

Hi Vicki,
I have woven a few sets of towels on my rigid heddle loom with a 10 dent reed just by doubling the warp and then using a single weft.

While I do think that a 12-12.5 dent heddle gives a slightly better result, the 10 dent towels still work out fine 😊

To elaborate on my answer to Vicki, I find that a sett that is a little closer is better than a sett that is a little too loose. A kitchen towel is a hardworking asset to your kitchen, so you want to make sure that it will not only do the job well, it will also last a long time.

An appropriate sett will also ensure suitable absorbency, which is very important for a kitchen towel!

Still addressing Vicki’s question, you have a couple of options for how to double your sett when weaving with a rigid heddle loom.

I usually go for the easiest option, which is to simply double your ends using one heddle. An example of this would be similar to what Vicki planned to do – use 1 x 10 dent heddle and double the warp. A really simple way to do this is to thread one warp loop through every hole and every slot for the width of your project. That way, when you get to the threading part you are one step ahead and can progress to the tie on without threading the holes separately.

Another option is to use two heddles of the same size for your warp. When actually weaving, you can hold the two heddles together to beat or just beat with the front heddle. This technique is outlined (along with a threading chart) in Jane Patrick’s Weaver’s Idea Book and also Syne Mitchell’s Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom.

I do have a lot of resources for which yarns are best for which projects, but I will share with you my favourite “recipe” for kitchen towels.

I love to use 8/2 cottolin which is a blend of cotton and linen. This works so well because you get the benefits of using linen without some of the difficulties. It’s just like weaving with 8/2 cotton except it can be quite hairy and shed fibres while it’s on the loom.

The cottolin softens up beautifully after a wash and is very absorbent.

My second favourite yarn for kitchen towels is the reliable 8/2 cotton. I love that it comes in such a huge range of colours. I frequently combine cottolin and cotton in one towel project and it works out great.

If you’re looking for some more resources relevant to this article, check these out:

Which cotton yarn should I use?

What yarn is best for weaving?

My tips for weaving with cottolin…

Or if you’re looking for some towel patterns to weave:

Bright & Beautiful Towels…

Diamond Stripe Towels…

Happy Fibonacci Towels…

I hope you have found some helpful information here today and until next time…

Happy Weaving!

*This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Darn it! Mending hand woven towels.

by Leave a Comment


It’s bound to happen. That moment when you realise there is a little or large or even gaping hole in one of your hand wovens.

I love using my hand woven towels in the kitchen. I mean, if you’re spending a lot of time doing menial tasks ie. dishes, you might as well be doing it with something special and beautiful.

We don’t have a dishwasher, and with 6 family members we tend to wash and dry a lot of dishes every day.

The first time it happened, I may have gasped, my eyes may have goggled a little and my head may have drooped. Just for a moment. But, one thing you learn through being a parent is to not be too precious about your material possessions. It’s likely they will get broken or damaged at some point. I would still rather use things than have them sit in a drawer somewhere.

Towel 1 was the worst with one large hole and one small hole.

So, anyway, two of my not very old, fairly recently finished hand woven towels had, shall we diplomatically say, “person inflicted holes”? Likely pierced by a sharp knife in the act of drying it?

I began contemplating what could be done about the said holes and I thought of the wonderful old art of darning, something our Grandmother’s did all the time and my own mother avoided like the plague. Needless to say, this art was not passed on to me. But, since having children, I’ve done my fair share of mending clothes with usually passable results.

Towel 2 was in better shape with just one smaller hole.

The trick with handwovens is to try to trace the original path that the broken or snapped threads took. Easier to do if you have a good understanding of the weave structure you used, but you can still get on alright by observing the threads that are still intact.

Once you’ve observed the pattern of the threads and determined how many warp threads and how many weft threads are broken, you can start tracking where these threads should have been and try to follow their original path.

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on one of these links and purchase, I receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

Using a needle (I used a tapestry needle) and matching the original threads as closely as possible, (I wasn’t able to do this as I had run out of the original threads, but I found some pretty good matches amongst my stash) start your thread 1 -2 inches out from the hole. Doing this also usually allows you to follow the path of the original thread up until it reaches the hole where it is broken.

It doesn’t matter whether you start weaving in warp of weft threads first. After you have woven through and past the hole (hopefully in a pattern very similar to the one that was broken) you continue to follow the pattern with the needle for another inch or two out the other side. Leave tails hanging out from where you began and finished.

This technique worked really well for my smaller holes. Although I didn’t get an exact copy of the original pattern, I was able to replace the broken threads in a way that didn’t look terrible!

Not perfect, but not too shabby!

For the gaping hole I needed to try something else. Subtle mending was not going to suffice for this one, there were many severed warp and weft threads and the gap was wide. I tried. I really did. But it was ugly – perhaps uglier than before I started trying to replace the threads.

At this point I decided to embrace the “Visible Mending” movement. I didn’t have any matching fabric, having woven just this one towel with those particular threads and structure. I hunted in my scraps and samples pile and came out with a couple of pieces that were acceptable – at least they had the same colours!

I cut out the patch sizes I needed – one for each side of the hole and serged the borders of each piece. I used the wonderful sewer’s helper Heat n Bond to attach a patch to either side of the hole. When cool, I machine zigzagged around the edges. Not perfect, but at least I don’t have to look at my botched mending job anymore and the towel is functional in my kitchen once again!



Once I completed the surgeries, I put the towels through a hot (60 degrees celsius) machine wash, dried and ironed. I cut all the tails (including the original leftover broken threads) as close to the fabric as possible, without cutting the actual fabric. Don’t accidentally snip too close and undo all your hard work!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m very grateful to have children who wash and dry dishes for me, even if there are occasional accidents!

Until next time….

Happy Weaving!

Kelly’s hand woven, perfectly hemmed technique.

by 23 Comments

*This post contains affiliate links
I won’t tell you how long these towels have been sitting on my creative table waiting to be hemmed. What is it with final techniques and me? I go to all that trouble to weave something beautiful and then let it sit there for who knows how long before I get around to hemming!  
Anyway, lets focus on the positives. The towels ARE hemmed now, and I’m going to share my simple but effective hemming techniques with you!
Firstly, always weave a little extra where you intend to hem, and don’t forget to factor in hemming allowances to your overall calculations. I like to make a little contrast weave at the beginning and end of a piece that I’m going to hem. Here I’ve woven plain weave borders at either end. There are 2 advantage to this – 
1. The contrast looks nice.
                                                                       2. The border is less bulky and therefore makes a more crisp and pleasing hem.
You can see that my raw edge is secured on a serger to prevent any unravelling during the wet finishing process. It is helpful to give the whole woven piece a good press before beginning, it’s always easier to work with pressed fabric.
This is what I call my “dog ear” technique.  Fold in a corner on each side of the hem and press down with an iron. There are 2 reasons for this also – 
1. The corners can get ugly and a bit ragged in the washing process – I want to hide them!
             2. Towels have a tendency to be wider at each end. This reduces a little of that “flared out” look.
Once my dog ears are pressed down neatly, I take the raw edge and fold it over, usually around 1/4″ but more if it’s particularly raggy. Press with the iron.
Now I fold again, this time 1/2″ or more and press. Now all raw edges and corners should be completely encased and hidden. Once pressed, you can also place pins along to hold everything in place if you wish.
Take it to the sewing machine (different towel in this photo but the same process). I use Gutermann sewing thread. I learned early in my sewing journey that life is too short to sew with cheap threads that will break over and over! Sew with a straight, medium stitch close to the folded edge (roughly 1/4 – 1/8″).
You can use a different stitch if you want to, I just like the professional looking finish a medium straight stitch gives. Don’t forget to reverse stitch at the start and finish.
For an almost invisible finish, you can hand hem with a needle and thread, you can find that tutorial here.
Seeing as we’re on the subject of towels, if you’re on the hunt for your next towel project, you may want to try one of my classes or patterns.
Online class:
Happy Fibonnaci Towels
                                                                       Colour & Weave Towels
      Diamond Stripe Towel Weave Along (currently only open to members of the Online Weaving School)
PDF Patterns:
Lux Hand Towels
Happy Fibonnaci Towels
                                                                           Diamond Stripe Towels
                                                                        Bright & Beautiful Towels
Drop me a comment to let me know if this post has been helpful to you, I love feedback!
Until next time…
Happy Weaving!

Can you really weave that on a rigid heddle loom?!

by Leave a Comment

I hear that a lot. And most of the time, the answer is yes!


Take my newest pattern release as an example. Did you know I have 2 patterns in my Etsy shop now? Yes, I’ve been a busy little bee.

My new project is entitled “Happy Fibonnaci Kitchen Towels”. “Happy” because of the happy colours and “Fibonacci” because I based the design on the Italian mathematician’s sequence. These are a perfect example of using the rigid heddle loom to obtain the WOW factor.


With the right arrangement of colours and a pick up stick you can weave a towel that looks like it’s hot off a multi shaft loom.

I hope you find the time to weave some beautiful towels for your kitchen or to give as a special gift.