Dish Towel Cake Tutorial

I'm going to a bridal shower this weekend, and I decided to make a dishtowel cake as my gift. I've made these a few times before; they are so much fun and very easy to make. It's also a much more fun way to give items like place mats, dish towels, and cloth napkins as gifts. You can decorate them in any theme....the bride's wedding colors, colors fitting the shower theme, colors matching items on the registry. For this one, I went with colors that match their registry theme. You will need four place mats, a table runner, a pack of six cloth napkins, and three flour sack towels for the layers, and silk flowers, ribbon, and whatever you want to put on the top of the cake (I have a letter for the top for the bride's soon to be new name). You will want wire cutters, scissors, and maybe some floral wire or tape (I don't always use it, but it was helpful for this one because I used longer stems). I started out with this:

And ended up with this:

Here's how:

It takes quite a few dish towels to make something like this, so I usually use a set of four place mats, a table runner, and a 6-pack of cloth napkins, along with a 3-pack of flour sack towels. I just found that to be a bit more cost-effective.

I got both the napkins and the flour sack towels at Cost Plus World Market. The awesome thing about the flour sack towels is that they come in packs of three shades of the same color, so it gives an ombre effect to the cake.

For the cake base, you will want a dinner plate (I usually get a plain white one at the Dollar Store) or charger and a bottle of something....I usually use a nice bottle of wine, but the couple I made this one for aren't wine fans so I got a nice bottle of sparkling cider from Cost Plus. Just a tip....white wines tend to make the best centers for the cake because they are fatter bottles. Any bottle will work though. Anyways, center the bottle on the plate or charger like this:

I don't usually anchor the bottle to the plate, but you could do that with some glue dots if you wanted to. Anyways, you will also want a pack of colored paper clips, a bag of mixed size rubber bands, and safety pins or straight pins (I usually use straight pins, as they are more discreet, but I'm out of those so I used safety pins). You can pick up all of those items at the Dollar Store.

Next, take your place mats and table runner (or towels or napkins) and fold them so they cover about 1/3 of the bottle height (the bottom layer will probably be a bit bigger than 1/3 of the bottle...that's totally ok). If you need to safety pin them so they stay folded better, go for it.

Wrap it around the bottle as tightly as possible, and then rubber band it in place.

You will need progressively larger rubber bands, which is why the mixed bag is perfect (smaller ones are great for diaper cakes....which I will post about in the future!). Anyways, wrap all of the place mats/table runner/whatever else you are using around the bottle until it is the width you want for the bottom layer (I usually fill the diameter of the plate or the center of the charger). By the way, you will want to stagger the "seams" so that you don't end up with a giant bulge on one side of the layer (see picture). Once you are done with wrapping the first layer, double rubber band around it to keep it secure.

It's ok if it's not perfectly round; for one thing, I've never been able to get it to be perfectly round, and for another in the end it kind of evens out....you'll see.

Next you take a flour sack towel and fold it to match the height of the layer.I usually put the darkest color towel on the bottom, with the lightest on top....this gives it the ombre effect. Anyways, after you fold it, wrap it around the layer as tightly as you can.

Paper clip it in the back (which will be wherever the seam ends up being) and then smooth out any wrinkles. If there is excess on the bottom, tuck it under the layer (you'll notice that the layers rotate around the bottle and can lift up, which is helpful for making it look polished).

 Start adding your next layer (I used the cloth napkins for this one). The bottle I used narrowed significantly and wasn't as tall as most wine bottles, so I folded one around the narrow neck first and then wrapped the rest of them around it. Also, I found it helpful to paper clip the seams of the napkins as well as rubber banding it.

For the top layer, I did not have much bottle left to work with, so I found it easiest to just roll up the last flour sack towel and stick it on there.

At this point, I rotated the layers so that the seams were all in the back. I did have to safety pin them, but I usually recommend straight pins. However, this will probably just sit on the back corner of a table, so I don't really care about the safety pins.

Now it's time to "frost" the cake!

Take your ribbon and cut it to fit your layer. You can put it anywhere on it you like....for this one I put the ribbon on the center of each layer. I safety pinned it in the back (to the flour sack towel) so it held in place.

I also added a bit of blue twine over the ribbon to tie into the bride's wedding colors:

You'll notice each layer isn't totally smooth and wrinkle-free; it's ok to have wrinkles. It's a cake made of towels after all! :)

This is the best part now....time to add flowers! I always just buy silk flowers from the Dollar Tree. They usually have a decent selection of colors and flowers and you can't beat the price! I usually have lots leftover too that I end up using for other projects (the flowers in my spring apothecary jars were leftover from a towel cake!). Anyways, I was going for a sort of country-foresty feel, so this is what I picked up:

This is the part where I just experiment with the flowers until I'm happy with it. I used the wire cutters to trim the stems, and the floral tape to hold a few of the bunches together. Once you have your flowers cut, just stick them between the towels and tweak until you're happy with them.

Remember, odd numbers are ascetically more pleasing to look at, so that's a good rule to keep in mind (and I just realized I need to add one more to the bottom bunch to fit the rule!).

Finally, time for your cake topper. I found a camo-covered "S" for the top, which fits perfectly with the couple :). I taped a large popsicle stick to it to make it stand up, and then tucked it into the top towel layer. I then arranged a few more floral pieces around it until I was happy with it.

Here's the finished product:

I always make a mess when I make these! :) Also, here's what the back of it looks like, so you can see all the pins and such:

Here's a few other towel cakes I've made. The pink one was the first one I ever attempted; I didn't use towels for the outside, but cut fabric to cover the outside. I think the flour sack towels are easier.  The first one is also comprised of mostly dish towels, which was just crazy to put together. The second one I actually cut the "S" on top out with my Cricut and covered it in glitter; that's another way to make this a less expensive project.

So that's it. Pretty easy...really it's just about tweaking until you're happy with it. I'd love to see pictures if you make one yourself....so please share! :)

Sola Deo Gloria!

Spring Apothecary Jars!

I LOOOOOOOOVE apothecary jars! I also had a serious itch to make some spring decorations. The pups got me up at 6:30 am, so I decided to be productive this Saturday morning and do something about the spring decor itch.

A few thoughts about decorating in vases and apothecary jars first:

The lovely thing about vases and apothecary jars is that you don't have to do anything complicated to make them pop. All you need is some filler and you're good to go. The other thing you can do is make them sort of like a little seasonal scene. Either way, not complicated. In fact, I usually use seasonal stuff from the dollar store to fill mine. So I took some inexpensive seasonal items I either already had or that I recently picked up:

 The floral moss, floral foam, and mossy rock thingies (why yes, that IS their official name) all came from the dollar store (I got them last year for a different project). I still see them at the dollar store all the time so you should be able to pick up something similar to these.

 The rafia came from the dollar store this year. The fern basket I picked up on sale at Artco last year for $7. I haven't been able to use it until now, so I definitely wanted to take advantage of it....it's an awesome piece!

 Butterflies....I got these last year for a different project and am reusing them. I think I got them at Artco, but you can find these at any craft store. I don't remember exactly how much I paid for them, but it wouldn't have been more than a few dollars (definitely under $5, probably more like $3).

 The dollar store has an excellent silk flower collection. I wouldn't use them for higher-end decorations, but are perfect for my purposes today!

 No spring decoration is complete without speckled eggs! Dollar store came through again!

 I got all of these little guys at the dollar store. Aren't they perfect?!?!

 Dollar store Easter grass....you could always just run colored paper through a shredder too if you don't want to buy a bag of it. I'm lazy so I just bought the bag.

Last year's plastic Easter eggs (I make a basket every year for Brandon. We don't have kids so he gets a basket instead!).

So I gathered my hurricane vases, apothecary jars, and small cloche, and got busy experimenting. By the way, no crafting morning is complete without...

CHICK FLICKS AND TEA!!

Anyways, the first thing I did was get out some canned goods. They are great for putting in the vases or jars to add height, and you also can use less filler per jar. This makes for cheaper decorating, and you can make more of them with your supplies instead of having to buy more supplies. 

I worked on that small jar on the left first. I decided the little white bunny would look great in it. I put in some moss and sat the bunny on top. I didn't actually leave the can in it because it made the bunny sit too high for the lid.

Isn't he cute?? I decided to not add anything to this jar...less is more, and I wanted the bunny to be the focus.

Next, I worked on the hurricane vases. I put smaller cans in both of them, then filled one with rafia and one with moss. You might have to really stuff your filler down into the bottom of the vase to make sure your can doesn't peek out. Once I was happy with the filler, I set my birds on top. I added three speckled eggs to both vases, moss rocks to one, and was good to go. I did add a butterfly to one of them...it just needed something more. Vases and apothecary jars are really about experimenting until you are happy with them.

By the way, if part of your can is peeking out, just make it the back of your display. Unless it's a table centerpiece, no one will be the wiser for it.

Anyways, I decided to do the fern basket next. This one was really easy...I just stuck a bird in it and some speckled eggs, and it was good to go!

Next I filled the milk-jug looking apothecary jar. I stuck some floral foam in there, along with some moss rocks....

I filled it in with a small rock, some moss over the foam to hide it, some silk flowers, and a butterfly. I just played with it until I was happy with it...

For two of my smaller jars, I just stuck some glitter eggs from the dollar store in them. This is the finished vase and jar collection....

LOVE THEM!! So spring-y and natural. I just needed to do the cloche now. I got out a dinner plate, turned the lid upside-down, and filled it will the Easter grass and plastic eggs. This one is less natural feeling, but it is fun and festive. I added two little butterflies to it after I stuck it on the mantle. I think I may transfer it to a cake stand to add some height.

Here they are in their places:

And here is the giant mess I had leftover after I did all this:

Crafting is messy work, people! :)

A few thoughts about apothecary jars and vases and then I'll sign off. Purchasing apothecary jars and hurricane vases can get expensive fast! Michael's and Joann's has them ranging from $12 to upwards of $45 dollars! That is NOT in my budget! I mostly only have smaller jars right now since we haven't really lived in a place that warranted bigger ones. I found mine at antique stores and paid no more than $6 for a piece. The hurricane vases were leftover from my wedding, and I think I bought those with a coupon. If you want some bigger apothecary jars or vases, purchase them at places like TJ Maxx or Marshall's. They have them for really inexpensive (I think the most expensive one I saw at Marshall's recently was $16, and it would have been $45 at Michael's). I'm putting a few of those on my birthday list since we now have a mantle that is PERFECT for large apothecary jars!!

Other filler ideas for spring: jelly beans, plastic eggs and Easter grass (like the cloche....these would be super cute in a hurricane vase or jar too!), faux speckled eggs, decopauged eggs, small garden gnome, peeps....the possibilities are endless! Pinterest also has fabulous ideas :). Also, it's never a bad idea to buy filler stuff at the end of the season when it's on clearance to use for next year! :)

Wow I just realized how long this post is....thanks for reading!

Sola Deo Gloria!