Tea Towels/ Dish Towels

Tea towels or dish towels are one of the very important kitchen linen products required to keep the kitchen and dishes neat and clean. These kitchen towels also make one of the very sought after craft projects as those interested in embroidery and other such linen decoration techniques love to embellish their tea towels. However, before knowing about all the other decorative and crafts aspect of tea/ dish towels, it seems apt to know answers to such questions as what is a dish towel or tea towel, what are the types of dish towels etc.

 

What is a Tea Towel?
A tea towel is a cloth for drying dishes, cutlery, etc. It is called dish towel in US English and tea towel in UK English. A tea towel or a dish towel is very handy and helps to give a neat and clean look to the kitchen. Few tea towels are too lovely to be hidden away. The attractively patterned linen tea towels or cotton dish towels are appealing to eyes and also have a high utility.

 

What is the Difference Between Dish Towel and Dish Rag?
When talking about a tea towel or a dish towel, many people confuse it with a dish rag or a dish cloth. A dish towel is used for wiping the freshly washed dishes and cutlery. Sometimes, they are also used as a cover for food placed in a dish or tray. On the other hand, dish clothes are small rags used to wash dishes and wipe off counters. Although, nowadays, most of the people use sponges for this purpose, many people still prefer to use dish rag to stay hygienic (sponges are known to be infected with bacteria when wet). After washing dishes with a dish rag, they are dried with a dish towel.

 

What is a Tea Towel Used For?

Going from the above description, it seems that a tea towel is used for drying dishes only. Although it is true that a dish towel is now used for drying dishes, traditionally it was used for covering trays or baked food items (like biscuits, breads etc.) at tea time- hence the name tea towel! A tea towel is used for many other activities other than these. To mention a few things, a tea towel is used as:

 

Serving Tray Covers- to cover a serving tray at tea time.

 

Warm Food Covers- to keep warm the fresh baked foods. Tea towels are occasionally used to even line a bread basket while folding it over the food to keep it warm.

 

Hand Towels- to be hanged in kitchen to wipe off wet hand.

 

Dish Towels- to dry dishes, cutlery, glasses and silverware etc. As the linen and cotton dish towels are absorbent and do not leave streaks on clean glassware, they are the most proffered kitchen linen products for the purpose.

 

Gift Wrap- to present gifts in style, especially for a hostess gift, housewarming present, bridal shower gift.

 

Craft Projects- to make aprons, kitchen curtains and even shopping bags. Embroidered dish towels are one of the very dear craft projects for hobbyists.

 

Decorative Linen- to decorate kitchen. Dish towels are often hung in the front parlor or a kitchen for decoration.

 

Souvenirs- to be gifted to friends or family as a reminder of a trip. The decorative tea towels are in fact sold in many places in Europe that are sometimes designed to be hung on a wall or displayed in a frame. These souvenir tea towels hand embroidered tea towels made of linen or plain tea towels made of cotton having paintings of famous landmarks.

 

What is a Tea Towel Made Of?
Tea towel fabrics are generally some absorbent material. Best dish towels are made from fabric types that are lint free and soft so that they do not leave and scratch or fiber residue on dishes after wiping. Although dish towel fabric is the preferred material for making these kitchen towels, sometimes tea towels are also made of high quality paper which in turn are made of compressed fiber. Some of the popular tea towel fabrics include linen, cotton, flour sack, waffle weave fabric etc. Apart from these traditional tea towel fabrics, the modern dish towel fabric include such names as bamboo and microfiber fabrics.

 

Linen Tea Towels

Linen dish towels are the most traditional tea towels. Linen fiber used for tea towels have delicate weave ideal for drying china ware. In 1784 when the British prohibited the export of yarn, Irish weavers started making linen. Today Irish linen tea towels are considered among the finest dish towels available in the world.

 

Cotton Tea Towels
As linen is quite an expensive fabric and because bulk dish towels are needed in a kitchen, cotton dish towels are mostly preferred by people these days. A cotton dish towel proves to be a less costly option suitable for daily use. Also cotton dish towels are absorbent and can easily withstand repeated washing and drying.

 

Flour Sack Tea Towels
Flour sack dish towels are made with the fabric which doesn't contain dyes or chlorine bleach, they are one of the best kitchen towels available. A flour sack tea towel is lint free, soft and most absorbent Kitchen towel.

 

Waffle Weave Tea Towels
Waffle weave dish towels are made of a woven fabric with a recessed square pattern. Fine gauge waffle weave fabrics contain tiny squares and are usually lightweight. Waffle weave dish towels are fast-drying and thus are liked by many people. People fond of dish towel crafts too like waffle weave tea towels as they are easy to work with.

 

Bamboo Tea Towels

With the concept of eco kitchen gaining momentum, the bamboo dish towels have become a preferred choice among the organic kitchen towels. The bamboo dish towels are highly absorbent, naturally antibacterial, and silky soft when touched. These bamboo kitchen towels, however, might occasionally loose a few threads which is a normal occurrence inherent to bamboo fiber. One can simply trim the loose bamboo threads with scissors to prevent the dish towel from getting damaged. Bleach and fabric softeners should not be used in order to give longer life to bamboo dish towels.

 

Microfiber Tea Towels
Microfiber dish towels are the most absorbent kitchen towels. They can absorb up to 5 times as much water as other dish towels can. These microfiber tea towels also dry off faster. Microfiber fabric is a blend of very tiny nylon and polyester strands that are woven together to make a very soft and absorbent dish towel.

 

We cater to wholesale supply requirements for all types of kitchen tea towels including linen tea towel, linen dish towels, linen kitchen towels made of all types of fabrics. For wholesale tea towels supply, send us online enquiry to get quotes from pre verified genuine tea towels wholesale manufacturers, suppliers and exporters.

 

Tea Towel Designs- Styles & Patterns
As tea towels are an indispensable item for any kitchen, the wholesale dish towels manufacturers and suppliers make bulk tea towels in innumerable designs, styles and patterns. Some of the tea towel designs are more suitable for domestic use such as the plain tea towels and some others are apt for commercial use in hotels and restaurants such as the monogrammed towels. Some designer tea towels are more liked as a gift items such as the personalized dish towels and some others are used for special occasion decoration like the Christmas dish towel! The dish towels are also selected on the basis of their colors. White tea towels are traditionally liked by people while some other colors like red tea towels have become popular recently. Some of the popular tea towel designs, styles and patterns include the following:

Tags:- Cotton Dish Towels, Dish Towels, Kitchen Tea Towels, Linen Tea Towels

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