Tea Towel Tuesday: A Spot O' History for Ya

I'm sure if 18th century England could see the "tea towels" of the world today they would feel as if they had fallen from grace.  The tea towel came about in 18th century England, when the lady of the house would use them to dry her fine china and tea set in preparation for TEA TIME!  They were mainly made from linen, as linen did not leave any lint behind, and it wouldn't scratch their china. 

These original tea towels were treasured and even passed down from generation to generation (I don't think any of my kids are going to fight over any of my so called "tea towels").  The ladies of the house would also take great pride and care in embroidering their tea towels, some of which they would frame around their house.  Their main use was to cover the food during tea time, or to wrap around the tea pot to keep it insulated and warm. 

Somehow, along the way the tea towel has decided to dumb itself down and hang out with us common folk (and thank goodness for that)!  Now they are traditionally made from 100% cotton.  Linen tea towels can still be found in gift and souvenier shops the world over, but these are typically the towels that are just "for nice" and the ones that if you somehow spot your husband's dirty hands reaching for one 30 feet away, you immediately become an Olympic sprinter and somehow make it in time to intervene.  Meanwhile, you are thinking, "doesn't he know those towels are just for show, and never ever intended for real use, I mean why is he looking at me like I'm the crazy one"??? 

Luckily, for our sanity and our husbands sake the cotton tea towel has come around and we now use them to dry dishes, wipe off hands, help bring in the BBQ tray, and  not to mention that darn tea towel even decided to go out and get a sense of humor and make us laugh, like this Daniel Craig tea towel!

Be sure to check out our entire selection of towels!  You can go all 18th century on us and buy them to embroider and frame; or you can be modern and just buy one to actually USE (I know it's a crazy idea)!  If you really want to get down and dirty with it, we think the BEST things out there are our Kitchen Dishcloths, they definitely will do the trick, but this is only if you are like us common folk and you actually have to do some (or all) of the cleaning yourself!