What Is a Tea Towel?

Many homes have a host of tea towels lying around: one by the kitchen sink, another hanging in the powder room, and five more tucked away in a drawer, ready to rotate when the others need washing.

But what actually makes a tea towel a tea towel, and why are they called tea towels in the first place? Here's everything you need to know about this kitchen textile.

What Is a Tea Towel?

Unlike your run-of-the-mill, super-absorbent bath or hand towels, tea towels are generally flat-woven from linen or cotton. Instead of using a higher-pile material like terry cloth used for a dish towel, a tea towel does not leave lint or streaks behind. Both dish towels and tea towels are about the same size, running from 16 x 28 inches to 18 x 30 inches.

The History of the Tea Towel

While tea towels are nearly ubiquitous these days, the tea towel's beginnings were far from humble. It's thought that they first became popular during 18th century England when textiles became more easily accessible. Often made from soft linen, tea towels were a favorite accessory amongst the upper echelons of English society. The ladies of the house used them to line tea trays to absorb any spills and to insulate teapots for tea service (thus the name). Tea towels were also used to cover baked goods and to dry cherished china. (This was apparently one of the jobs they didn't pass off to servants, as they didn't want to risk any broken saucers. The horror!)

The linen tea towels were also a way for women to show off their decorative stitching skills, as they would embroider them with initials, flowers, or other designs to coordinate with the rest of their table linens.

With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution and mass production during the 19th century, tea towels, like many things, became more widely available across the pond too. They could be made easily from cotton, which also democratized the dish-drying tool and were and were designed with striped or checked cloth. Soon, tea towels moved from being a flashy sign of luxury and wealth to serving as a regular workhorse.

Repurposing Flour Sacks Into Tea Towels

Tea towels moved further into the American household vernacular with the arrival of the Great Depression, as quick-thinking homemakers would recycle flour sacks to embroider and use as tea towels. Flour companies wised up and started packaging their flour in patterned sacks. The rest, as they say, is history.

Modern Tea Towels

Now, of course, you don't have to get through a bag of White Lily to snag a new tea towel—you can find them just about anywhere, from airport souvenir shops to your neighborhood grocery.

While tea towels are a tried and true workhorse, when you're not using them to dry veggies or prettily line a shelf, you can also turn them into family heirlooms with help from a treasured hand-me-down recipe. Craft and print-on-demand websites have made it simple to use handwritten recipes or digitally written recipes to silk screen or print onto tea towels. This unique gift is a perfect way to give someone a useful yet thoughtful gift.

Tea Towel Decorating Ideas

• Wrap chocolate, flowers, or a loaf of bread in a tea towel as a gift instead of using wrapping paper. It's a warm and wonderful homemade touch.
• Add tea towels to your tablescape. Create a placemat by folding the towel in half and sewing around the edges. Or use them as napkins, mixing and matching complementary colors and patterns to add a visual pop.
• Further enhance your table by wrapping a tea towel around a pillar candle and tying it in place with a ribbon (just remove before lighting!).