Take your tea towels out of the kitchen

Everyone has tea towels in the kitchen drawer, perhaps from a holiday in Spain, a wet weekend visit to a castle, or even a stylish present from a design-conscious friend. Some tea towels are so quirky, or such good quality, that it's a shame to hide them away. I've made a collection of handmade, personal items from tea towels, including bags, wallets and belts. The instructions below explain how to make a watch - I hope you're inspired to give it a go!

What you need

An old but working watch face
A tea towel with a hem around the edges
Sharp scissors
Pen or pencil
A 30cm ruler
Fabric glue
Clothes pegs
Popper studs (from a good craft shop)

Getting started

Set all the things you are going to need on a large flat surface, such as the kitchen table. Lay out the tea towel face down, making sure there are no creases.

Step one

Measure the watch pin.
Measure the watch face.
Decide how wide you want the strap. It's up to you, as long as it's the same size or bigger than the pins.
Mark out on the tea towel the width of strap you want, three times, adding a 1cm hem around each edge.
Measure your wrist, then make the strap 5cm longer.

Step two

Draw out the strap on the tea towel. Draw it three times, as it's going to be folded over three times for strength.
Add a 1cm hem to the edges if there are not any on the original tea towel.

Step three

Glue along the long hem on all necessary edges.

Fold 1cm hems towards the centre.

Step four

Glue along the top edge.
Fold along line the top dotted line (see picture, left).
Glue along the bottom edge, fold along the lower dotted line, so the top and bottom edge meet.
Hold in place with clothes pegs and leave to dry.

Step five

Mark out the watch face holder.
The width is 4mm smaller than the watch pins.
Cut out double this width, as it's going to be folded over.
The length is about 10cm, but alter if needed.

Step six

Glue along the edges, folding towards the centre.
Make sure the width is still smaller than the pins.
Glue and fold 1cm of each edge.
Leave to dry, holding in place with clothes pegs.

Step seven

Position the watch face in the place you would like it on the face holder (with the tea towel pattern facing the same way as the watch face).
Attach the face, clipping the pins in place.

Step eight

Glue the face holder in the centre of the strap.

Hold in place with clothes pegs and leave to dry.

Step nine

Using pop studs, glue them in a position that fits your wrist.

To make it more secure, try sewing the studs on, or try different ways of fixing.

Step 10

Leave to dry before wearing.
Ensure fasteners are attached before wearing to ensure the watch doesn't fall off.

Why not try ...?

Using different sections of the tea towels to create interesting straps.
Finding unique tea towels to make your watch more personal.
Stitching parts on to add detail.
Using different fastening methods.

More tea towel projects can be found in Andy's book, Made by, £8.95 at designedbyandy.com. Find more of Andy's design work at andymurraydesign.com.