Handmade Charm: Potato Stamping Tea Towels & Napkins

There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about handmade linens — they carry a softness and charm that store-bought pieces simply can’t match. This season, I decided to try an easy, budget-friendly craft that feels delightfully old-fashioned yet beautifully timeless: potato stamping.

Yes, the humble potato! With just a few simple cuts and dabs of acrylic paint, I transformed plain tea towels and napkins into cottage-style treasures, each one uniquely patterned and perfectly imperfect. Whether you’re dressing up your kitchen for the season or creating heartfelt gifts, this project proves that creativity doesn’t have to be complicated — or expensive — to be meaningful.  

Supplies required to make potato stamped linens:

Disclaimer: Some of the items below are bolded and clickable with links to products for this project. Should you decide to purchase any of these products, I will earn a small commission at no extra charge to you. Shopping through my links it what supports this blog and allows me to provide you with free content. I am very grateful for your support.

• Tea towels or cotton napkins
• 4 paint brushes or you could use a foam brush if you don’t want as much detail
• Potatoes
• Sharp knife
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint in a variety of colors – DecoArt Santa Red or Christmas Red, Burnt Sienna, Spiced Pumpkin and Deep Ochre
• Paper
• Paper towel

Step 1 – Prepare linens

Check the washing instructions for the linens and then wash and dry them accordingly.  

You could use flour sack towels, cotton napkins or tea towels.

Once dry, iron them also according to their material type.

Step 2 – Pick a design

Look through designs, patterns, etc., until you to find something you love.  Then print it off on paper at a size that would fit on a potato.  Trace the edges with a black sharpie and cut out.

I picked a simple variety of leaves.  Later you will see that I also made acorn and leaf stamps.

Step 3 – Prepare the potatoes

Cut the potatoes in half and then dry the potatoes with a paper towel.

Lay the cut out design on potato and then take a sharp knife and trace around the design.  Cut down approximately 1 cm or 1/4″.

Then cut in from the edge of the potato towards the design and then peel away the excess potato.

If there are any interior details that need to be cut this is the time to do it.  I cut veins through the leaves.

You could always use a cookie cutter instead and press it into the potato and trim the excess sides away.

Step 4 – Do a test run

Pick your colors and assign one paint brush to each color. I used DecoArt Americana acrylic paint in Santa Red, Burnt Sienna, Spiced Pumpkin and Deep Ochre.  

You can paint your leaves any way you like, but if you are at a loss, find fall leaves or pictures of them and try to copy them. Remember to always keep it to a thin layer of paint so that it does not seep beyond the edges of the potato stamp pattern.  I started with Santa Red near the base of the leaf and up the middle and then put some Burnt Sienna to the middle of the leaf .  Then I put Spiced Pumpkin at the end along the edges.  Finally I added dots of Deep Ochre here and there.

Then use a thick round brush and lightly tap all the paint on the surface of the stamp so that it is blended.

On a flat surface, press the potato paint side down onto a paper towel.  Then stamp it again a few more times on the paper towel to see how you like the varying opacities.

Step 5 – Heart Tea Towel

This particular project is for a heart filled in with fall leaves on a cloth napkin but I will be using it as a tea towel.  Draw half a heart on a folded piece of paper and then cut out the heart.  Darken the edges of the heart with a black sharpie.

Place the heart in the center of the tea towel but underneath it.  It is just going to provide you with the shape and border of your heart so you don’t go beyond it.

Start with your first leaf right in the middle and then work your way around the heart. With each paint application on the potato stamp, I then did two stamps on the tea towel.  The first one was very vivid and full paint while the second one had less paint and was less opague.  

Make sure to space the first stamps out around the heart and fill in with the second stamps so that there is variety in the opacity.  Keep going until you fill the heart in.

Leave to dry for 48 to 72 hours.

Step 6 – Heat setting the paint

​Use an iron on medium-high setting and either iron on the back side or place a protective cloth on the front and iron for 3 to 5 minutes.

Do not wash for 7 days.

The Big Reveal!!!

​Look how great the leaf heart turned out!  Who knew potato prints could look so good?

I was so happy with the result that I cut a few more stamps – two different sizes of acorns and two different sizes and shapes of leaves and created the pretty fall design.

I placed two napkins side by side and did the first stamps on the left napkin and the second stamps on the right napkin.  This provided me with a vivid design and a design that looks more like a water color.  Which one is your favorite?  Both were great ways to experiment with the amount of paint being applied to the fabric.  I think they both achieved a beautiful result.

Then I did another tea towel with more of a falling leaf design.

While the cutting of the stamp would not be good do with children, the actual stamping would be a lot of fun for little hands!  It is such a simple activity but a fun way to usher in the fall season.

Interested in a little shopping?

Here are a number of items that I have curated especially for the fall season.  Just click on the links below to learn more about each product.  

​Full disclaimer:  Should you decide to purchase anything from these links, I will earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.  When you shop through my links, this supports the blog and is what allows me to continue bringing you free content.  

Looking for more inspiration?

How about some inexpensive fall decorating ideas? Just click here.

Or how about a delicious fall dessert? Just click here.

Or how about an easy fall diy? Just click here.

Thank you!

Thank you for staying until the end.  I appreciate your support so very much.  I truly hope you enjoyed this potato printing project.