Sewing

Simple Towel To Bath Mat

Kyra

Jun 22, 2022 •9 minutes to read

Over the last decade I’ve enjoyed having a matching set of towels for our bathroom. That said, we’ve recently replaced our towels with a set that doesn’t include a bath mat and I didn’t realize until then just how much I wanted my bathroom to continue to match. I came up with this idea to turn an extra towel into two bath mats and thus returned my bathroom back to it’s awesome cohesiveness! This is how I did it in case you’re interested too.

Pinterest image showing my blog title, my main URL, and two collages with a total of five images. All images can be found below too.

Back when Matt and I were planning our wedding we added matching purple bath towels, hand towels, washcloths, and floor mats to our wedding registry through Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Looking back I’m so glad we did as I loved having the entire bathroom match. I especially adored, over the years, the fact that I could fold them into two sets each containing a bath mat, two bath towels, and two hand towels. Whenever we needed to launder the one set I switched to the other one and thus they were evenly used over the years. This meant our ensuite or main bathroom, depending where we lived, had a matching set always in use. Our other bathroom also had a purple hand towel and I justified it’s need for a bath mat by attempting to Tunisian crochet one.

Image shows a pile of towels with the bath mat on top. — I adored these towels over the years but realized that the bath towels were starting to rip with normal use and it was time to replace them with something new. As you can see in this photo the towels, lower down in the pile, were made differently than the bath mat, at the top, although they all matched.

Image shows a closeup of the tag attached to the purple towel. The label says: Springmaid my finest towel. — I checked out their tags, which apparently I never removed, in case you’re interested. The tag says *Springmaid* and we bought them through Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Canada over ten years ago. Looking online I see *Springmaid* pop up through Target and other stores now.

I knew over several months that we should replace our towels but wasn’t sure who to go with. Finally I went down the home goods section at my local Costco as I knew I’d rather shop in person for towels then online. One particular design caught my eye but I didn’t want bath towels that didn’t match my hand towels… then I noticed they came in both and decided to splurge on them. I ended up buying four indidivual bath towels (online they seem to come in a two-pack) and a pack of four hand towels and four washcloths (I thought this was in two packs but online this would be only one). At the time I was disappointed that they didn’t have a bath mat that matched but still bought them and brought them home as I liked how they looked. After prewashing them we started using it and loved them but I then realized just how much I loved having two separate sets that included everything and I really missed the cohesion within our bathroom.

Closeup image of the tag for the new towel. It says Luxury 100% cotton towel by Trident home|decor|design. — Looking online at Costco the matching bath towels and other set both say *Gaya* in the title but the tag itself says “by Trident Home|Decor|Design”

Image shows the new towel dangling, blurred, to the left and the Tunisian crocheted bath mat laid out on the floor. — After washing the towels I decided to steal the kids bath mat to go with the towels in the main bathroom and left them, for now, with one of the older purple ones.

I knew I needed a better matching bath mat and considered briefly bringing one of the washcloths into stores with me so I could match colors but I never really got around to doing it before going back to Costco again for groceries. While there I went down the home goods aisle again and noticed most of the towels picked over but they still had a couple blue ones left. I decided then and there to experiment by creating my own bath mat and quickly grabbed another towel as it was only $10 and I knew that if I didn’t buy one now I didn’t know if I would ever be able to again as things always seem to move quickly there. I then set it aside for weeks before decided I really needed to just do it.

Image shows a stack of bath towels and hand towels behind an newer folded towel with it's tag still on. — Before beginning I quickly snapped a photo of the new towel, with its tag still on it, folded on top of the ones we had been using for a couple weeks already.

With the bath towels so large I had realized I could simple cut the one I bought in half and have two bath mats from that single towel. This meant I would be back to my two sets and be at ease once again.

Single Bath Towel to Two Bath Mats

I knew my serger would make this really simple as I could easily cut the towel in half while simultaneously serging the one half so it wouldn’t unravel. Once done I could then grab the other half and serge it, without trimming, to finish off it’s cut side too. I didn’t want a large and obvious stitch showing so I decided to use a three-threaded rolled hem so it would be tighter and not as visible. This is similar to how I did my simple napkins years ago.

With my plan decided I next realized that my biggest issue with this would be making sure, while serging along, that my serger blade lined up perfectly with the center point so I wouldn’t end up with any weird zig zags or anything once done. I decided I’d fold my towel in half with the short ends together and use some tailor’s chalk to mark that center line. This didn’t work at all as none of the chalk transferred to the towel. I then considered switching to a rolling chalk pen or even a disappearing ink pen but I worried the marks wouldn’t disappear completely. Instead, I grabbed my purple tomato filled with sewing pins and carefully inserted them, along the center line at the fold, all the way across the bath towel.

Image shows the edge of the folded towel beside a triangle of red tailor chalk and purple tomato with multi-colored sewing pins in it. — I folded the towel in half with the short ends touching so I’d know where the center line was and then folded it again the other way so it would fit on the cleared off part of the kitchen table beside the girls. They were making Valentine’s while I did this.

Image shows the folded towel with small dots of color along the folded edge showing where the sewing pins were inserted and thus where the center of the towel is. — Once I determined that the chalk wouldn’t transfer I switched over to using the sewing pins to mark the center line of the bath towel.

Once the center line was marked I brought the towel, and purple tomato, over to my serger. I wanted to use white serger thread to better match the towel so after confirming that I had three spools already loaded up I next confirmed that the rolled hem stitch was properly set. With that all done I started serging carefully down the center of my towel making sure that the blade lined up with my sewing pins and that they were removed before coming too close for comfort.

Image shows the towel under the pressure foot with about two inches already cut into the center. The green and blue sewing pins lead away from the pressure foot towards the edge of the photo. — I carefully lined up the sewing pins with the edge of the blade and started serging across the towel so it would be equally halved.

Image shows the towel half way through being cut in half with the serger. The pins are still lined up in front of the pressure foot and the cut halves are laid out behind (serged side) and to the right (unfinished side). — As I serged across the towel I was left with more and more cut towel bunching up behind and beside my machine. I serged a bit slower and carefully kept the sewing pins lined up with the blade trusting how I pinned them rather than analyzing the straightness.

Once I serged the whole way across I was left with one finished bath mat and I only needed to serge along the other half to finish it too. Before starting, however, I examined the stitch on the first half and noticed it was wider than I thought it would be as the towel was thicker than the woven fabrics I had previously used this stitch one. I decided to flip the other half around so it was reversed from before making the whiter side the side with the wider stitch and the bluer side the smaller stitched side. Thus both of my bath mats look slightly different if their finished edge were examined and contrasted with each other.

Image shows the finished half of the towel laid out on the serger table while the trimmed and unfinished side is laid out in front of the serger beside the purple tomato. — After cutting the towel completely in half I examined the finished half and saw that the rolled hem stitch was wider on the thicker fabric. As the widest side of the stitch was against the bluest side of the towel I decided to flip the other half so, hopefully, the white stitching is a bit less apparently on this bath mat than the first.

Image shows the second side being serged with its beginning corner still connect, via the rolled hem stitch, to the other half. — Once decided I laid out the second half of the bath towel so the newly made raw edge lined up with the edge of the blade. I then carefully serged along its edge while making sure that nothing extra would be trimmed with the blade.

And with that I had two new bath mats that perfectly matched my new towels! All I needed to do was trim the excess threads off either end of their newly finished edge.

Finished Bath Mats

At this point I still hadn’t removed the tag from the towel yet so I had two newly made bath mats with one still sporting it’s tag and looking a tad more professional than the other. I absolutely adored how simple this was to do!

Image shows one of the stacks consisting of the bath mat encircling the two bath towels and two hand towels. — I am again able to have a fully matched bathroom and kept these towels in two different stacks consisting of a single bath mat, two bath towels, and two hand towels (one, in this case, for each bathroom).

Image shows both bath mats overlapping a bit but side by side on the wooden floor. — I love how the blue side of the bath mat and towels look and as the pattern goes along the length of the towel the bath mats ended up reversed from each other.

Image shows the same two bath mats as before but now the overlapping one is flipped over to show the underside. Where it was blue it's now white and vis versa making this one more white than blue. — Plus I can always flip it over to give a different look to the area.

Pile of one set of folded towels. — Then I set them into two piles. Each containing one newly finished bath mat, two bath towels, and two hand towels (one for each bathroom).

I love the immediate effect the bath towel had when added to the bathroom with the rest of it’s set.

Image is taken from above looking down at a bath towel folded and hung up with the bath mat blurred underneath. — I absolutely love how perfectly the bath mat fits between the wall, toilet, and shower. And that’s without measuring it or anything.

Image is taken from the side further away than the last. Here you can see two towels hung side by side and the bath mat folded and hung on the bath of the sliding shower door. — With all the towels folded and hung it looks so gorgeous!

Potential Alterations

If I didn’t have a serger I could have, instead, used my scissors to cut the towel in half, thus skipping the sewing pins, and then use a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine to finish the edges.

Overall I’m happy with how my bath mats look and am going to leave them alone. That said, I could always go over the edges again if I want to change up how the edge appear. For instance I could going over it again with either my sewing machine or serger so the white edge is more obvious.

If I were to do this again with a new towel I could see playing with the edge more. If the towel was thinner, for instance, I could see using a decorative stitch that matched the theme. Or I could play with the thread color whether it was to better match the bath mat colors, my other towels, or the bathroom itself. Or even a variegated or metallic thread could be fun. I could see my kids loving that!

I hope you’re having a great day and this post helps you out. If you end up turning a bath towel into two bath mats or, especially, if you use this to inspire you to do something else I’d love to hear about it in the comments below so do please share. I hope you’re having a great day.

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