Getting Wrinkles Out of Embroidered Dish Towels
 

I just finished embroidering a set of dish towels to be used as a Christmas gift. I used white cotton dish towels which are manufactured for that purpose by a bag company. There are a lot of wrinkles in the towels and I have been unsuccessful in ironing them out so that I have a smooth finished towel. I washed and ironed the towels before embroidery and thought they were fairly nice at that time. Now that I have finished the embroidery I laundered them again and am having trouble coming up with a smooth finish. The wrinkles seem to be deep set and steam does nothing to bring them out. Has anyone had this problem and found a solution?

Spraying with a vinegar/water mix usually works for me to get out bad wrinkles. Works better than steam for me.

I agree with Prism. A vinegar/water spray can help get tough wrinkles out. I always keep a bottle in my sewing room just for that (and squirting overly barky dogs that won't pay attention).

I wonder if the embroidery threads managed to shrink a little in the wash, thereby causing your wrinkles.

Try placing it on top of a big fluffy towel folded in half, spritz it with the water/vinegar spray, and press.

What ratio of vinegar to water do you use?

....... or perhaps that the fabric was pulled overly tight in the embroidery hoop?
(thinking that this is hand embroidery, not machine)

Is this machine EMB? Do you have a picture to post?

Are the wrinkles around the design? Did you hoop the towels and what stabilizer was used for the project? Design stitch count? Dense designs can have pull that distorts the finished design.

It can also be from the weave of the towels.

The wrinkles can be caused from the stabilizing technique used. I generally hoop if the project can be hooped and use a basting block.

For the next time, try a design that has an open stitch to it over ones that have dense fill stitches.

......... or that the stitches were pulled too tight?
(again thinking hand embroidery ......)

There is a product I found at Walmart by Downy called Wrinkle Releaser Plus if the above suggestions do not work.

I never measure. Probably 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water.