Decorative Towel Folding

Remember the time you entered one of those nice bed and breakfast places or a cabin in a cruise ship, to be greeted by one of those cutely folded swans or elephant? Decorative towel folding is an art which was popularized by Carnival Cruise Lines and is still used widely to add a fancy element to your room. It is usually observed that each evening in a cruise line, when the passengers go out of their rooms, stewards makes these cute towel animals and puts them in interesting places! And although they might look simple, decorative towel folding is quite a difficult art to master. While almost everyone can fold a towel and put it in a closet, it takes certain skills to fold a towel into an origami elephant, monkey or cat. As a matter of fact folding fabrics, including towels, require a special origami style. While paper origami is made from the neat, easy to fold squares, decorative towel folding requires folding floppy, soft rectangular towels. However folding towel animals can be great fun and you can use your creations for brightening up the guest bedrooms or just make it a fun activity, that keeps the kids occupied on a rainy day. So how do you master the towel folding art? Here is a look at some of the creative towel folding styles.

Decorative Towel Folding Instructions

Folding a Towel Swan: Towel folding swans are quite easy to make. Just lay the bath towel on a flat surface and then fold the edges to the corner so that it resembles a triangle. Now roll up the edges so that they meet at the center resulting in a somewhat triangular scroll. Fold this triangular scroll into a "Z" shape and squeeze the corners so as to set the curve. Now repeat this procedure to make another swan and place them beak to beak and press them forward to form a heart shape.

Folding a Towel Elephant: Lay a full size towel flat on the surface and roll the edges so that they meet at the center. Now fold the scroll so that the rolls and the center seam face outwards. This forms the body of your elephant. To make the face lay another towel on a flat surface and clip the center of the long side of the towel. Now starting from the left corner, roll the sides of the towel to the center. Repeat this on the right side as well, so that the place you clipped the towel becomes a point. Turn the towel over, so that the rolls now face the underside. Roll up the pointed end upwards to make the elephant's trunks. Grasping the flat area of towel between your two towel points at the side, unroll it away from the center. Tuck in the sides to make a distinct forehead and two flapped ears. Place this atop the "body" that you had made and put it up for display.

Folding a Towel Dog: Towel folding dogs requires a certain amount of patience and skill. Lay the towel flat on the table and clipping the center roll up the edges from both sides. Now fold the towel in half and place it sideways, making sure that the top roll comes over the bottom roll. This makes for the dog's body. Take a hand towel and fold it in half and then bring the open side of the towel back to the folded side, about two-thirds of the way, leaving two inches uncovered. Now tuck the folded edge under and lift the corners from each end to form the ears. Roll the ends to the middle and pull the flaps of the "ears" to the middle and tuck it under to make a forehead. Place it on the body for the complete towel dog.

While you may be bending some of the traditional origami rules, once you master the art of creative towel folding, you will find it to be a fun and enriching activity. So, make sure to employ some of these decorative towel folding instructions for folding towel animals, that will impress your guests and delight the children.