Tea Towels, I just LOVE a good, beautiful, fun Tea Towel …

Did you know that tea towels where once considered as a status symbol? They got their start in 18th century England when homemakers used them for more delicate jobs that couldn’t be trusted to household servants, like drying china and tea sets without leaving scratches. They were also used at teatime, when these towels would accompany other linens as part of the decorative place setting. Sometimes a clean, folded tea towel would serve as a soft place to set a warm teapot and people would wrap teapots with a them to help insulate the pot so the tea stayed warm. Tea towels over baskets of biscuits and scones kept them from going stale as well. All in all, the tea towel may be the most versatile of the towel family!

People would make them, taking care to hand-hem the linen to create a finished towel and often embroidered designs on them to show off their needlework skills. Some of these richly embroidered towels ascended their tool status, going on to become family heirlooms passed down through the generations.

Nowadays they are still used for similar work (drying delicate dishes) but they also take on a much more decorative role in the house. Towels are chosen based on looks like stripes, fun images, checks and even sayings as a way to add a bit of color to the kitchen.

Below find some of my favorite teach towels that we use around our house in every room with a sink!

Magic Linen (available at Urban Outfitters as well as their own site) These are the towels we use in my daughters bathroom for drying hands.

Anthropologie has the best prints and brands like these from Salt and Sand, these are great for bathrooms!

Williams-Sonoma is my go too for all things kitchen and these towels that benefit No Kid Hungry designed by th one and only Dolly Parton are a MUST! I mean a beneficial purchase for kiddos and designed by the best lady ever is a total tea towel home run! These are perfect for any room in the house!