Dare to Make It: Holiday

How to Insert a Crocheted Lace Band into a Hand Towel

Jennifer Stern, contributor

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Here's my luxurious hand towel!

jen stern

A close-up of the towel.

jen stern

This is before inserting the lace band and edging.

jen stern

Here's my luxurious hand towel!

Photo: jen stern

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We are going to use a three-step zigzag to topstitch the ends of the lace down. This stitch does a wonderful job of keeping fabric from fraying—better than some stitches that are specifically designed to overcast the raw edges. The reason why it does a good job at holding fabric together is because the needle takes three small stitches in each direction as it zigs and zags back and forth. All those little stitches can hold the raw edges together really well. (This is different from a regular zigzag, which takes one stitch for each zig and zag.)

You can identify a three-step zigzag from a regular zigzag by the broken line that is used to represent it on the display of your sewing machine. Stitch No. 4 is the three-step zigzag. No. 3 is the regular zigzag.

Fold the ends of the lace under 1/2" and use the three-step zigzag to topstitch across the ends.

This will keep all the little ends of the crocheted lace from raveling.

If you have a serger, clean-finish the cut edges of the towel. If you don't have a serger, you can use the three-step zigzag on your sewing machine to finish the raw edges.

The nice thing is if you use thread that matches the color of your towel, you will barely see the three-step zigzag.

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Comments (3)

Jen1964 writes: Beautiful! It makes me remember my great-grandmother's crocheted lace-edged pillowcases. There was a ripple or scallop to her edges. Your version sounds like it would hold up really well too. Maybe it'd horrify people, I don't know, but I always believed these beautiful little touches were supposed to be USED in real life, not just stored away for company (although that's nice too as long as they get USED!)!! It's so much nicer to treat family like company when you can.
Posted: 10:09 am on October 23rd

granny474 writes: I will be making this lovelt towel this weekend for house warming gift for a friend who has just moved back into town.
Thank you for sharing your project with us.
Posted: 6:59 pm on August 26th

wynneceline writes: I love this pattern I will be trying this lovely towel. And I will be also sending this pattern to my sister, who is also a crafter. This towel will be perfect for last minute gifts or as house warming gift.
Posted: 1:27 pm on August 23rd

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