DIY Spring Flour Sack Towels -Free Printable

Who is ready for spring because I know that I sure am!  This week’s post is a fun one.  I made four DIY spring flour sack towels that I’m using to add some spring décor throughout my home. 

I painted each of the flower designs and made them available to download for free.  All you need to complete this project are flour sack towels, fabric transfer paper, an inkjet printer, some scissors and an iron. 

I’m also super excited that this project is part of the 2020 spring home tour which features 28 amazing blogger projects just in time for spring.  Read more about the spring tour and get the full tutorial for these pretty towels below.

DIY Spring Flowers Flour Sack Towels

Spring flowers always make me so happy.  After a long winter all I want is some fresh air and when I see the first signs of spring flowers I can’t help but smile. 

I wanted to add some color and spring décor to my home so I painted some flowers, scanned them in and then printed them on fabric transfer paper to make four spring towels.  I went with some of my favorites including tulips, lavender, daisies and lilac. 

The flour sack towels are great.  Not only are they a good size (28″x28″) but they are super absorbent.  They’re also 100% cotton which makes them an ideal material for fabric transfers. 

I used these towels and this transfer paper.  On a per towel basis the materials added up to $2.39 per towel.

I love how versatile the flour sack towels are.  They are great for the kitchen as dish towels or hand towels for the bathroom.  I even put one on my bar cart in my dining room.

Now lets talk about how to make these towels!  Seriously they are so easy AND they look like they are store bought.  For under $2.50 a piece you can’t beat it!

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click-through and make a purchase.

How to Make DIY Spring Flour Sack Towels

 Materials

Flour Sack Towels

Iron on Transfer Paper

Scissors

Tools

Inkjet Printer

Iron

Measuring tape

Tips for Success

1. Only use an inkjet printer.  The transfer paper does not work with laser printers.
2. Cut as close to the border of the image as you can.  The paper leaves a little film in the areas where there is no color so you’ll want to avoid as much of that as possible
3. Wash your towels before you add the designs.
4. Make sure that you are NOT using the steam setting on your iron.  Steam ruins the transfer paper.
5. Use the highest setting on your iron (typically the cotton or linen setting).
6. Place a pillow case down on a hard surface so that you have a solid surface below your towel.  Ironing boards often have a lot of padding and are too squishy to allow good adherence.  I placed a piece of plywood inside a pillow case and ironed on top of that (see below).

Directions

Step 1 – Iron the towel

Iron the Flour Sack Towels to remove as many wrinkles as possible.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, just make sure that you have a nice flat surface where your image will go.

Step 2 – Locate & mark the center

Mark the center of the towel so that your image will be perfectly centered on the towel.  I used a measuring tape and one of my weeding tools to tentatively mark the center line. One thing that I noticed is that the towels aren’t exactly the same size so the center line was off by anywhere from 1/8″ to 1/4″ depending on the towel that I used.  This is probably due to shrinkage/stretching.

Step 3 – Print the design

Use an inkjet printer and Iron on Transfer Paper to print the images.

Enter your name and email address in the form below and we’ll send the design straight to your inbox!

This design is for personal use only.  You can print as many as you want to give to your loved ones but under no circumstances should you resell or distribute the file as your own design.

Note that the files are backwards (meaning that the text is mirrored).  This is how you want to print it for iron on transfers.

Step 4 – Cut out the design and position it on the towel

Next you’ll want to cut out the design and position it centered on the towel.  I designed the flowers with a thin black border so that it would be very easy to cut close to the edge.  For the text you can just cut around the perimeter and leave the space between the words.

Here is what it looked like after I cut out the flower and the text.

Then I placed it face down on the towel where I wanted it positioned.

Step 5 – Iron the design to the towel

Use an iron directly on the transfer paper to transfer the image from the paper to the towel.  Be sure to push down on the iron without moving it for 10-15 seconds.  Pick up the iron and set it back down as needed to cover the entire image.  I set my iron on the cotton setting which is the highest setting.

Step 6 – Peel off the paper backing

The last step is to peel the backing paper off of the the image.  Let it cool for at least 2 minutes and then peel it off. It came off very easily for me.  Peel it off slowly and if there are any spots where the image did not transfer, iron those again as needed.  That’s it!  you can use your towels right away.  The only recommendation is that you don’t wash them for at least 24 hours.

Want more free printable downloads?

Check out our printable downloads page for more free cards, art prints and more!

I’m thrilled to be joining in today as 28 talented bloggers bring you the best of spring for all throughout the home! Please continue along this inspiring tour, and visit the other participants in each of the following categories.

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Which towel is your favorite?  Mine is the daisy!