I recently did a series over on our TikTok account in which I answered the most frequently asked questions about tea towels, according to Google. I also added in a few questions that we get asked a lot as well. I decided that it would be good to do a post here as well answering the public’s most burning tea towel questions, so here you go!
So without further ado, these are the most frequently asked questions about tea towels
What is the difference between tea towels and dish towels?
This is a great question that we get asked a lot! For all intents and purposes, the difference between tea towels and dish towels is negligible. I will begin by stating that some people feel much more strongly about this topic than I do! We have had people go so far as to leave reviews in our Etsy shop letting people know that what we sell are dish towels and not tea towels (and vice versa!)
In our own personal vocabulary, “tea towels” are the smooth type of cotton towels that we offer in our shop, whereas “dish towels” are terrycloth towels. Both can be used for drying hands and dishes, and both fall under the category of “kitchen towels”. We frequently use all three of these names to classify our towels, simply because it helps search engines match our towels with customers who are looking for them, regardless of what they call them!
All this is to say that, although we have built a whole business based on tea towels, we have no strong opinion on what to call them. We prefer to just call them DELIGHTFUL!
Are tea towels absorbent?
The short answer to this question is that it depends on the tea towel!
The tea towels we sell here are 100% cotton and are very absorbent! Customers may find them to be even more absorbent after they have been washed. When we are applying designs to our towels they are first ironed and then they go through the heat press no less than twice. All this makes the fibers a little stiffer than they will be after a wash. In our observation, fluffy, laundered towels just seem to absorb water better!
There are other types of tea towels though! Even before tea towels became our business, Heather loved to collect tea towels when we traveled, and sometimes people bring them to her when they visit other places. These towels fall under the category of “decoration only” and would not be suitable for cleaning the dishes!
Are tea towels used to dry dishes?
This depends on the question above about whether tea towels are absorbent. In our house, yes, we use our tea towels to dry dishes (and hands, and the floor, and . . . well you get the gist, we have four kids and live on a farm, so things can get very messy) every single day! Some of my best friends, however, use their delightful towels for display only! So while we highly recommend actually using your towels, we respect those who choose different towels for day-to-day use! Those travel-themed towels we mentioned above though would not be a great choice for drying dishes with, because they just aren’t very absorbent.
Are tea towels 100% cotton?
The tea towels we sell in our shop are 100% cotton. If you purchased your tea towel elsewhere, it could be 100% cotton, a cotton blend, or even 100% polyester, so the best thing to do is to check the tag on the towel. It should contain this information.
Why would anyone use 100% polyester for a dish towel?
Several types of kitchen towels, especially the “waffle-weave” towels, are often made of polyester fibers. Certain crafts, such as sublimation require a high polyester count, so a lot of crafters use those. It’s just a different printing process and has its own uses. Who knows, we may explore adding this type of design to our offerings in the future. It’s always good to have options!
Do you ever screw up towels when you are making them?
More often than we care to admit! These go into what we call the “oops pile” where they live until we need a towel to clean a spill, help with an art project, keep an outdoor spigot from freezing, or do some other random task around the house. We might begin offering packs of “oops” towels at deep discounts for people to use as shop towels. Please reach out if this is something you would be interested in!
Can tea towels be used as hand towels?
Absolutely! Tea towels don’t care what they are drying as long as they are being put to good use, so yes, feel free to dry your hands with a tea towel! The bathrooms in our house are all well stocked with tea towels for hand drying. Now, a lot of them have someone else’s name spelled wrong on them (see the section on “oops” towels above!) but they work great for hand drying and there is no rule that says they need to stay in the kitchen!
Can I wash tea towels with my clothes?
Well, we sure hope so, because we do it! As previously mentioned, in addition to running a business, we have four children, we homeschool, and we live on a farm. What we might not have mentioned is that Heather absolutes despises doing laundry with every fiber of her being! We don’t have time to be precious about our laundry here, so everything, including our delightful towels, just gets thrown in the wash together! If you need more information, you can read more about tea towel care and washing instructions here.
Can tea towels go in the oven?
This question is a bit baffling, but apparently, it gets Googled a lot, so here we go. The only time we put tea towels in the oven is if we are proofing bread in there at a low temperature. We can’t really speak about what might happen to tea towels if you bake them, but the results definitely wouldn’t be delicious and could be a fire hazard, so we don’t recommend putting tea towels in the oven.
Can tea towels go in the microwave?
While we have had discussions about whether blank “oops” tea towels would be a good material to make microwavable rice heating packs with, we have not tried it yet. Our vinyl designs, however, would definitely NOT be compatible with the microwave, so we don’t recommend attempting to microwave our products!
Are tea towels lint-free?
I can’t speak for every tea towel on the market, but our delightful towels are lint-free, which makes them an excellent choice for many cleaning and household tasks! They can be used for cleaning mirrors, washing cars, or even buffing furniture wax! These are more ways we use our “oops” towels around the house.
Should tea towels be used for decoration only?
This is the question that we get the most in our business! We strongly believe that tea towels are useful tools to have in your kitchen and throughout the house, and therefore are meant to be used, but we still love you if yours are for decoration only!
Did we answer all your questions?
So there you have it, our most frequently asked questions about tea towels. Hopefully, this will answer any questions you have, but if not, feel free to contact us and we would be happy to help you!
