There was a wonderful project by Nicolle McKenna in the March/April 2020 issue of Handwoven called Birch Bark Tea Towels and Dishcloths. I loved the idea of using cotton boucle yarn for the weft to add texture and absorbency. And I loved the idea of bits of black in the weft which really makes the fabric look remarkably like birch bark. But the plain weave sort of left me flat. I wanted more complexity in the background.
I added an 8 shaft pattern in the background but kept the white and grey stripes. I started off with white boucle, then I used up all the other cotton boucle I had in my stash. The boucle makes the background pattern rather hard to see so I moved on to slick 8/2 cotton in solid and variegated foliage-like colors. It was so much fun to try and figure out which trees I have here.
Also there are a couple of matching bread cloths in this same design.
Fiber Content: 100% Cotton
Colors: Grey, White, Rust, Brown, Green
Shape: Rectangular
Size: Towels - About 20" by 26"
Crepe Myrtle Bread Cloth - About 20" by 12"
Dogwood Bread Cloth - About 20" by 16"
Yarn: 8/2 smooth cotton and boucle
Fiber Artist: Penny Nelson
Care Instructions: Machine wash in warm water. Machine dry on delicate.