Edwardian Bath Mat Tutorial

Today I have an Edwardian tutorial for you from The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Everything which was written by Agnes M. Miall and first published in 1916. It details how to make a bath mat cheaply at home.

Contents:

• 1916 instructions

• Materials

• Tutorial

1916 Instructions

Written by Agnes M. Miall

‘If you live in a flat you will need to spend a few shillings on fitting up the bathroom. It will want curtains, if the window is of clear glass, a cane or wooden-seated chair, a towel-rail or hooks (the former is much better, as it enables the towels to dry more quickly), and a receptacle for sponges, &c. Most baths provide a space for soap, but if not, a soap dish will be needed and should be of enamel. For sponges get one of those light wooden racks which have long handles resting right across the bath, and can be easily shifted to any position. The cost is about ⅓. A small looking-glass will also be useful. 

A bathroom floor should be covered with oil-cloth or cork carpet, and provided with a bathmat. This may be of cork, which is expensive but lasts many years, of thick towelling in fancy colourings (costing from 3/11 upwards), or a home-made affair of house-flannel.

To make the last, buy a yard of house-flannel, costing from 6 3/4d. to 8 3/4d., and fold it in half, thus getting a double surface measuring about twenty-five by eighteen inches. With coloured wool buttonhole coarsely all round the double edges, keeping the stitches a short distance apart. If liked, embroider diagonally across the surface the word “Bathmat” in the same wool. In this way you may have a bathmat which answers every requirement for a cost of 9d. or less.’

Materials

In the 1916 book, the emphasis is on thrift, so if you already have supplies that would be suitable please use them. However, I will give a few pointers if you need to buy something or would like to know the suitability of your materials.

Fabric

1m flannel. I have had difficulty finding fabric called simply ‘flannel’ in my searches, if you have the same trouble ‘brushed cotton’ seems to be the more popular term for the same fabric nowadays. If you want a cheaper alternative, winceyette is very similar, but it’s less expensive due to its cotton/polyester blend.

‘Wool’

For this tutorial I used embroidery thread. There are both upsides and downsides to using either wool or embroidery thread; wool is more difficult to sew with as it’s thicker so getting it through the flannel will be more difficult. However, it is what the tutorial recommends and would give the buttonhole stitch a nice sturdiness that the embroidery thread lacks. Embroidery thread is easier to sew with but it is also more partial to fray over time due to the separate strands its made from. You can decide which of these materials to use.

Embroidery/Tapestry/Crewel Needle

A needle with an eye thick enough to thread your wool through but with a pointed end for sewing ease.

Tutorial

1. Cut fabric to size.

Cut a rectangle of fabric 25” by 18”, or however large you would like your bath mat to be.

2. Fold fabric in half lengthways.

Fold fabric along the long side. This will be the finished size of your bath mat.

‘If liked, embroider diagonally across the surface the word “Bathmat” in the same wool…’

If you would like to embroider your bath mat, you can find era-appropriate embroidery designs and more on antiquepatternlibrary.org. Above are items available from the Herrschner Catalog, 1907, showing household items that would have been popular and fashionable at the time. You can use these examples to design your bath mat.

To find this example in particular, go to antiquepatternlibrary.org and using the ‘find on page’ function, type Herrschner, Frederick. It should be called ‘Art Needlework Supplies’ and this screenshot is from the second PDF, p.75.

This alphabet design is from 1910, also from antiquepatternlibrary.org. It’s a very pretty design and also wouldn’t take too long to embroider.

To find it, go to antiquepatternlibrary.org and using the ‘find on page’ function, type Harichand Anand & Co. It should be called ‘Anand's Embroidery Book’ and this screenshot is from p.16 of the PDF.

If you don’t want to embroider your bath mat, skip the next two steps.

3. Embroider fabric.

Draw embroidery design on fabric using a frixion pen or design transfer of your choice. In the pictured example, the letters are free-handed but you can use the previous page as inspiration when designing your own bath mat.

When embroidering, un-fold the fabric and only embroider through one layer so the back of your embroidery will be hidden when the fabric is folded. This example uses a backstitch with dark blue embroidery floss.

4. Finish bath mat

Once you’re happy with your embroidery, re-fold the fabric in half and give it a good iron, ironing the fold into place. Blanket stitch around the edge of the bath mat. For a more finished edge you can blanket stitch more closely together than in the example shown. 

Voila!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if you would like any more tutorials from this book or Edwardian tutorials in general!

Remember that you can get printable versions of this and all of my tutorials on my Patreon, and also get access to them a week earlier than the commoners!

Until next time,

Aisha x