Something special for everyone! Embroider delightful leaf motifs and sauna-goers’ names onto bench towels

Embroidered sauna bench towel—supplies

Here’s how to make an embroidered sauna bench towel

1. Draw a template for your text border on paper. To keep it symmetrical, first sketch one half, then fold the paper in half. That way, you can cut both sides of the template at once. You can fold the paper again in the other direction so that each quarter is identical. Draw a birch leaf on another piece of paper and cut it out.

2. Place the frame on the edge of the towel and trace its outline with a marking pen. Draw leaf motifs with your leaf template.

3. Tighten the cloth in the embroidery hoop. Begin the embroidery with the leaves.

Make the first stitch down the center of the leaf, from bottom to top, for the leaf vein.

Bring the thread to the front of the fabric right at the leaf tip, next to the vein on one side, and then pass it to the other side of the vein about 5–8 mm from the leaf tip.

Now bring the thread up on the other side of the vein at the leaf tip, and take it under the fabric on the opposite side of the vein.

Create the frame with chain stitches.

4. Design and arrange your text, then draw it on the cloth. Outline the text with backstitches and fill the letters with chain stitches, or embroider the entire text in chain stitch alone. You can stitch anything you like, such as yours and mine.