Classic Woven Dishtowels
Tuck a Classic Woven Dishtowel into your waistband so it’s always in reach as you move from fridge to cutting board to stove. These beautiful dishtowels are thirsty for kitchen duty… And awfully pretty, too!
Aside from their good looks, our Classic Woven Dishtowels are also absorbent, machine washable, durable, and quick to make! You’ll speed through the work on our favorite table-size Cricket Loom from Schacht Spindle Co.
To make a set of four, warp your loom just once with our super soft, unmercerized Cotton Pure. Then use the same yarn to work the weft, switching gears every now and then to add textural Lantern stripes. We used Lantern’s Blue Black for a truly classic look, but it’s available in so many gorgeous colors, we can imagine a rainbow of dishtowels!
If you want to make your set just like ours, pick up four skeins of Cotton Pure and one of Lantern, all the yarn you’ll need to make four towels… Maybe two for yourself and two for a fellow cook who, like you, appreciates a classic staple!
Designed for Purl Soho by Carrie Laing.
Materials
To weave your own Classic Woven Dishtowel, you will need…
- Main Yarn: 4 skeins of Purl Soho’s Cotton Pure, 100% organically grown cotton. We used Egret White.
- Contrast Yarn: 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Lantern, 61% cotton and 39% linen. We used Blue Black. (NOTE: We no longer offer Lantern, but choose from one of our other worsted weight yarns.)
Top Row: Egret White + Blue Black, Egret White + Bluegrass Blue
Bottom Row: Egret White + Cinnabar Red, Egret White + Orange Poppy
You will also need…
- Schacht Spindle Co’s 15-inch Cricket Loom (and the 8-dent, 15-inch Reed that comes with it)
Note
Using The Cricket Loom
Cricket Looms come with a very user-friendly instructional booklet that walks you through every step of the weaving process, from assembling the loom to tying the fringe. For even more guidance, check out our Cricket Loom Tips.
Structure
Plain Weave
Warp
Warp Length: 155 inches (includes 12 inches of loom waste on both ends and 10 inches of loom waste between each dishtowel)
Warp Ends: 114
Width in Reed: 12 5/8 inches
On the Loom:
Ends Per Inch (E.P.I): 8
Picks Per Inch (P.P.I): 13
Off the Loom:
Ends Per Inch (E.P.I): 10
Picks Per Inch (P.P.I): 14
Size
Finished Dimensions, Unblocked: 12 ½ x 25 inches
Finished Dimensions, Blocked: 11 ½ x 24 inches
Pattern
Warp the Loom
Set up the warping peg 155 inches from the back of the loom. Note that, at this point, the back of the loom is clamped to the far edge of the table and so is the side farther away from the warping peg.
Tie the Main Yarn onto the back apron bar.
With an 8-dent reed in place and using the Main Yarn, begin threading the heddle by pulling the first loop of yarn through the second slat from the right end of the reed.
Working from right to left, thread the next 56 slats, so there are 57 slats threaded in total.
Cut the Main Yarn and tie it to the back apron rod.
Finish the warp according to the Cricket Loom instructions, transferring one strand from each slot to the hole to the right of it. You should have 114 warp ends in total.
Tie the warp onto the front apron bar in groups of 6.
Weave
NOTE: After weaving each dishtowel, finish both ends with a hemstitch (see Finish section, below), then loosen the warp tension a bit and cut the towel off the loom, leaving about a 1-inch fringe. Re-tie the warp threads onto the front apron bar and begin weaving the next towel. This method is a bit quicker than weaving scrap yarn between each towel and maintains an evener tension.
Dishtowel 1
Wind one shuttle with the Main Yarn and a second shuttle with the Contrast Yarn.
Leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn at the beginning…
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 18 1/2 inches.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 15 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
Cut both yarns, leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn.
Finish both ends with a hemstitch (see Note, above, and Finish section, below).
Dishtowel 2
Wind one shuttle with the Main Yarn and a second shuttle with the Contrast Yarn.
Leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn at the beginning…
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 18 1/2 inches.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 15 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
Cut both yarns, leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn.
Finish both ends with a hemstitch (see Note, above, and Finish section, below).
Dishtowel 3
Wind one shuttle with the Main Yarn and a second shuttle with the Contrast Yarn.
Leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn at the beginning…
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 7 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 15 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 19 inches.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 3 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
Cut both yarns, leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn.
Finish both ends with a hemstitch (see Note, above, and Finish section, below).
Dishtowel 4
Wind one shuttle with the Main Yarn and a second shuttle with the Contrast Yarn.
Leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn at the beginning…
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 15 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 18 inches.
With the Contrast Yarn, weave 32 rows.
With the Main Yarn, weave 16 rows.
Cut both yarns, leaving a 36-inch tail of Main Yarn.
Finish both ends with a hemstitch (see Finish section, below).
Finish
NOTE: For a complete how-to on this step, visit our Finishing with Hemstitch Tutorial.
Use the 36-inch tails to finish each end of each dishtowel with a hemstitch.
Make the hemstitch around groups of 6 warp ends across the width of the towel.
Cut the fringe 1/2 inch from the end of the weaving.
Weave in the hemstitch tails and gently hand wash your finished dishtowels in cold water, laying them flat to dry.
Love this! I like the idea of using French Prune as the contrast color. Is there any structural reason using Lantern for some contrasting warp threads (close to each edge) would be problematic?
Hello Jen,
Thank you for reaching out! Using Lantern for a warp thread could cause issues with your tension, due to Lantern being an inconsistent width with thicker and thinner parts throughout. I would also be concerned about Lantern catching on itself if it were your warp and weft because of the textured nature of the yarn. All that being said I’m all for experimentation, so you could always try it out!
I hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions!
Happy weaving,
Marilla
Hi there
Gorgeous project – liked it so much I bought the kit and the cricket loom! I’ve just started, and the weave seems quite open… I appreciate you can’t see what I’m doing or how open the weave is, but it would be great if you could give some indication of what it should look like on the loom.
Hello Belinda,
Thank you for reaching out! This is a great suggestion, I will pass it along and see what we can do. Just out of curiosity do the dimensions/gauge seem to be correct? These dish clothes are rather open, which gives them a beautiful drape. If you would like you can send us a photo of your work in progress to Store@purlsoho.com and we can take a look.
Happy Weaving,
Marilla
I had a similar comment; my initial reaction was that the weave is pretty open. I had to verify by zooming in to the pictures; it looks the same. I was thinking I could try the 10 dent heddle and it might close it up more; obviously, more yarn would be needed to finish all three dish towels. It took more than a skein for me to warp the 8 dent heddle.
Then again, I’ve finished the first dish towel and it is still beautiful and functional- and one can consider the open weave lovely and intentional.
Did you wash your woven towel? Usually after washing the spaces disappear.
I’m just getting started on the second towel & like the way the first one turned out. I’m wondering if I could use this same pattern for a guest towel (hand towel) out of a softer yarn? And if so do you have a suggestion about what I could use?
Thanks
Hello Patti,
Thank you for reaching out! I’m thrilled to hear how much you are enjoying this beautiful project. I love your idea ton make this into a hand towel! As far as yarn goes this yarn is really your best option for a Towel in terms of durability and absorbency. You could try out making this project with a linen which will start with about the same level of softness and then become softer and softer over time. Our Field Linen could be a nice option though it is a bit thinner so you would need to go down to a 12 Dent Reed rather than the 8 that is required for this project.
I hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions!
Warmly,
Marilla
Thank you! Could you tell me how much I would need per towel? I’m also thinking I might make napkins.
Hello Patti,
This is a great question. You should get one dishtowel per skein or 195 yards of fingering weight yarn. I hope this helps and Happy weaving!
-Marilla
I’m about to start this project of the Dishtowels. Rather than going the 155″ for the warp right off the bat, do you think it would possible to cut that in half and just do two to start with? So the warp would be 77.5″. Will all of my numbers come out the same for two rather than four towels if I do that? I’m so excited to start this…my very first weaving project thanks to you!!
Hello Suzan,
Thank you for reaching out- i’m excited for you! Yes there is no reason you can’t warp for two Dishtowels instead of three.
Happy weaving!
-Marilla
Hi, As I have not tried weaving (yet), I want to knit these beautiful towels. How much Cotton Pure would I need? Thanks!
Hello Lee,
Thank you for reaching out! Each dishtowel uses one skein of Cotton Pure and 1/4 a skein of Lantern.
Happy Weaving!
-Marilla
I am going to knit these as kitchen hand towels using Lantern in Horse Chestnut (contrasting color) and White Smoke (main color). Before I place my order, I would like to be sure that the “white” of White Smoke is the same (or close enough) to the “white” in the Horse Chestnut. Thanks so much for your assistance.
Hello Lee,
Thank you for reaching out! Yes, the Cotton core of Lantern is the same white in all of he colors.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Marilla
Hi Marilla,
Thank you so much for your responses to my questions. They are always so timely and helpful!! I very much appreciate it.
Lee
Hi, I want to make only two towels (numbers 1 and 2). How much of the main color would I need? Thanks!
Hello Lee,
This is a great question! Each Dishtowel takes one skein of Cotton Pure so you will just need two of the main color!
I hope this helps and happy weaving!
-Marilla
I finished 5 towels with this yarn and also tried to use the color linen yarn for a warp threads. Worked super good! Thank you so, so much for the inspiration.
I would love to knit these dish towels. Is there a pattern? Thank you!! 🙂
Hi Tammy,
Thanks for reaching out! While the yarn is different, our Linen Stitch Hand Towels are very similar to these ones!
Best,
Julianna
Cotton Pure is discontinued. What would be a good alternative for weaving? Thank you!
Hi Linh,
Thanks for writing in! Cotton Pure has not been discontinued rather we are working on a new and improved version that will be just as lovely as the original! It is coming soon and would be a great yarn to make these lovely dishtowels!
Best,
Cassy
Awesome tutorial! I wish I would have seen this first. I just finished my first weaving project for dish towels. Your instructions would have saved me headache! Lol.
Hello:
I’m using an ashford rigid heddle loom. My reed is 7.5 dent. Will I still be able to make these? Should I switch to a 10 dent reed?
(beginner weaver)
Thank you!
Hello Steph,
Thank you for reaching out! For this project we used an 8 dent so I would reccomend using your 7.5 rather than your 10. Your tension might come out slightly more loose than if you were to use an 8 dent.
I hope this helps and happy weaving!
-Marilla
I am new to rigid heddle weaving and I order some of the cotton pure.
How do I get skein unwound without a mess so I can put it on the loom?
Thanks for the help.
Joann
Hi Joann,
I’m so sorry to hear that you are having trouble winding Cotton Pure! We have had problems winding it as well, and our mill will now be adding extra ties to future shipments to prevent these issues, but unfortunately that doesn’t help with the skeins you already have! Please reach out to us at customerservice@purlsoho.com and we will be happy to send replacement skeins or find another solution. Also, for future orders, you can always leave a note in the comment box of your order asking us to wind your yarn, and we will gladly do so before shipping!
Best,
Julianna
I have a ashford 16 inch loom with a 7.5 dent. Do you think this will be equivalent to the 8” dent and 15” loom? I would love to do these towels and a scarf!
Hi Amy,
Thanks for writing in! Yes, the Ashford 7.5 dent heddle is equivalent to the Schacht 8 dent heddle! Since your loom is just a smidge wider than ours, you will have to change which slat you begin warping to make sure the warp ends up centered on your heddle, but after that, the pattern will be exactly the same.
Happy weaving!
Julianna
Hi! I got a cricket loom for my birthday last month and I have decided this is going to be my first project so I came to get the yarn and was wondering if it’s possible to just use another color of the Cotton Pure for the contrast stripes? instead of the Lantern. Would that work? Thanks!
Hi Paloma,
Thanks for reaching out! That is so exciting! This is a great first weaving project and you can absolutely use all Cotton Pure for this project instead of incorporating Lantern!
Please let us know how this turns out, happy crafting!
Gianna
When doing a project like this what’s the best way to deal with the colour you’re not using? So for example for the first towel you weave 16 rows with the main yarn, then 3 contrast yarn, then 7 main yarn and 3 more contrast yarn. Would you keep the contrast yarn joined while you did those 7 rows & perhaps trap it into the selvedge somehow? And then I assume you cut the contrast yarn and rejoin it after the 18 1/2 inches? Thanks!
Hi Liz,
Thanks for reaching out! I would recommend cutting the contracting yarn whenever you have finished using it and then re joining it in when you are ready to use it again!
Warmly,
Gianna
Thanks for replying so quickly!
Hello!
I love this pattern, but have a general question about weaving ing dishtowels. I recently wove one, and I overlapped the weft yarns when changing colors. When I washed the towel, the cut ends poked through a bit. Is there another way to hide new yarn when weaving. As you can tell, I am new to the process 🙂
Hi Chris,
Thanks for reaching out! The best way to secure the ends is to weave them into the dishtowels, I recommend using a Tapestry Needle to secure it! It is likely that the ends will poke out over time especially when washing the towels, so we recommend simply trimming the tip! I also recommend only hand-washing, the machine can be a bit rough and this will prolong the life of your towels!
I hope this helps!
Warmly,
Gianna
Hello, I am looking into purchasing yarn to make dish towels. I have woven dish towels with fringe in the past, but have not been satisfied with the fraying that happens to the fringe when washing. I like the overall look of the fringe and I am wondering if there is any way to avoid too much fraying and if the yarn for this pattern will fray much with regular washing. Thank you for your help!
Hi Beth,
Thanks for reaching out! It is pretty inevitable that you will experience fraying when you leave raw edges of the yarn, and unfortunately there really isn’t a way to keep this from happening. I would recommend handwashing to avoid any excess stress on the yarn!
I hope this helps!
Gianna
Hi! I am thinking of using a different color for the warp than the weft. About how many skeins are used for just the warp to make 4 towels?
Hi Carroll,
Thanks for writing in! Unfortunately, since this is an older pattern of ours, I do not have the exact breakdown in the yardage for the weft vs. the warp, however, I know that we used a total of 1062 yarns of Cotton Pure + 47 yards of Lantern for one dishtowel!
Warmly,
Gianna
In regard to your above reply, You say that 1062 yards of the main color is used (for warp and weft) for just 1 dishtowel. Correct? This sounds like a lot of yarn to me (but I am still a relative novice to weaving). Am I reading this right?
Hi Janet,
Thanks for double checking! I believe that we gave some incorrect advice in that comment, so apologies for the confusion. 4 skeins of Cotton Pure would be enough for 4 dishtowels, one of each layout. One individual dishtowel would only use 1 skein of Cotton Pure (and less than 1 skein of Lantern)!
All the best,
Lili
Hello! I currently only have a 10-dent 16” RH but was hoping to try this pattern out – do you have thoughts to how to adjust this pattern to account for this? Will the drape of the towels be affected?
I’m fairly new to weaving and I’d love to make something new with the tools I have!
Hi Shannon,
That’s a great question! A 10-dent reed is more suited for sport weight yarns. The 8-dent that’s recommended is usually used more for worsted weights. Fortunately, this pattern uses a combination of both Cotton Pure (a sport weight) and Lantern (a worsted weight) so I would still follow the pattern as written. The only difference is that the finished fabric would probably be tighter/more dense than the sample photo, but I think that will work out just right for this project.
I hope that helps you feel confident about getting started. We’re excited for you to take on this new craft as well!
All the best,
Zha Zha