Bluebird1959: Monogrammed Chair Backs (An Easy DIY)

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Hi Everyone! I wanted to share with you a fun, afternoon project I completed long ago at the bank breaking price of under $10.00! Let me set the scene for you: this past Christmas I had purchased some really cute holiday kitchen towels. When I was unpacking them, I randomly hung them on the back rail of our kitchen chairs. Oh my gosh, they were super, super cute!! So I left them there for the holiday season, but they did a lot of slipping and sliding around and ended up not being very practical. But, undaunted, I knew this was the dawn of the nifty idea for future "towel/chair" décor and I set out in January to perfect this idea. First, let me show you the finished product: can you see cute? Well, I sure as heck can!!! Love them!!!!

And without further ado, here is what I did to accomplish this under $10.00 (total, for all five of our chairs) awesomeness!

First, I hit up the sewing section at my local WalMart for these amazing Aunt Martha's Stitch 'Em Up "Retro Stripe" towels. They come in a package of three and are 100% cotton, and 100% faux grainsack awesome! $2.97 for a package of three. (on Aunt Martha's website they are substantially more expensive, so I am not sure if these were mismarked at WalMart or not. However, if you are looking for other colors and designs, check out their website for a nice variety) These are great even if you don't embellish them and my mom has always sworn by cotton dishtowels for um....drying dishes!

Next, I went to my computer and picked out a font, sized it up to what I needed, and printed out the
"W" I needed. Easy so far, eh?

The towels are sheer enough that you can see the bold font through the fabric and I copied it on to the towels with my trusty No.2 pencil.

After the tracing was done, I took a good old Sharpie marker and traced over the pencil lines. Let me also add that the folds from packaging made centering my monogram easy peasy.

After I had finished "monogramming" the towels, I ironed them thoroughly (which also helps to "set" the marker if you should ever need to wash the towels). I also folded the towels in thirds to get the width I need for my chairs. I did not cut them to size because a) that would mean I would have some hemming to do and b) I wanted to be able to use them for another purpose someday. (But mostly, didn't want to hem!)

Are you still with me folks? We are heading down the home stretch. I then took a 97 cent package of buttons and a $2.97 package of sticky back Velcro rounds and went about the last two steps of this super simple project.

*cover your eyes, my glue gun is not very pretty!*

As I mentioned, when I used the Christmas towels on my chairs during the holidays, they slipped and slid out of place. To remedy that problem, I simply took a pair of Velcro rounds and attached them to the inside of the towels. This way, after the towels are placed on the chairs, I can secure them with the Velcro and they will stay in place. Also, since they are not heat fused onto the fabric, I can always peel them off if ever I should decide to use the towels for a different purpose.

Lastly, I took three buttons and simply hot glued them on the back side of the towel to give a finished look. I also think it would be adorable to have the buttons facing the other side and the monogram facing out.

Here is one final look at the finished product. Super fun - especially for Valentine's and even Fourth of July and of course, Christmas. The best part is that if I change my mind, I can remove the Velcro and buttons and I will still have five cute, monogrammed tea towels.

What do you think? I just love how they turned out and as far as time to make five of these cuties - under two hours. The ironing took the longest!

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

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