Stick This: Customize Towels with Grosgrain Ribbon

Whether you're looking to tie your towels to your bathroom theme or color scheme, want to make a special gift for someone (wedding, house warming, baby, etc.), or simply want your kids to be able to easily identify their towel, sewing on some grosgrain ribbon is an easy and eye-catching way to achieve your goal.

Grosgrain ribbon comes in a variety of widths and almost every color and pattern imaginable, from aquamarine to zaffre, apples to zigzags, and "Avengers" to "Zootopia". It's available at dollar stores, craft stores, big box stores (like Walmart), and online (eBay, etsy, etc.).

Transform your boring towels into sharp-looking accents and tie-together mismatched towels into coordinating sets without spending a tonne of money on new or designer towels.

MATERIALS
- towel and matching thread for the bobbin
- grosgrain ribbon and matching or coordinating thread for the top thread
- sewing machine, notions, scissors, etc.

1. Lay the towel edge on a flat surface that you can pin on. Lots of towels have a band that is shorter/smoother than the fluffy parts, which is the perfect area to sew on the ribbon, but if the towel doesn't have that, you can still sew the ribbon on over a fluffy area (you may need to measure up from the outside edge of the towel to ensure that your ribbon is straight.

2. Cut a piece of ribbon that is the same width as the towel. Position it carefully and pin every few inches/centimeters to keep it in position while you sew. At both ends, tuck approximately 1/4" (0.5 cm) of ribbon under itself and pin securely. This keeps the "raw edge" of the ribbon sewn inside the stitching so that it won't fray.

3. If you're sewing on hand towels or face cloths, you can simply sew around the ribbon along the edges and backstitch at both ends. For large towels, it's much easier to sew two separate seams. Sew along one long edge, turn at the end, and sew the edge of the end, making sure to backstitch at the start and finish.

4. Start sewing again at the same start point, this time sewing the edge of the end first, then along the other long edge to the same finish point, making sure to backstitch at the start and finish.