Croissant Tea Towel Knitting Pattern
Add a touch of handmade charm to your kitchen with this tea towel knitting pattern, featuring colorful stripes reminiscent of a croissant’s delicate layers. This easy and simple towel is a perfect project to relax with after a long day, and one to help beginners learn how to make color changes in knitting.
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GET THE CROISSANT TEA TOWEL:
Croissant Tea Towel Free Knitting Pattern
If you haven’t knit from a knitting pattern yet - I highly recommend you check out my post on reading knitting patterns here - it will help you follow the instructions smoothly!
© Whileberry 2025. Please keep in mind that this pattern is for personal use only, and both the pattern and photos can’t be copied or reproduced on another website.
sizes
One size: 35 x 43 cm (14 x 17").
supplies
yarn
For this tea towel I used Lion Brand 24/7 cotton in colorways Ecru (MC), Amber (CC1), Camel (CC2). This yarn is my absolute favorite for working up kitchen towels!
If you'd like to knit the towel in a different yarn - you can choose any similar worsted weight (category 4 - medium) cotton yarn, in colors that contrast well. A few options that should work fine for a tea towel:
Yardage: approx. approx. 105 m (115 yds) of MC, 55 m (60 yds) of CC1 and 55 m (60 yds) of CC2.
needles
5 mm (US 8) straight or circular needles, or to fit gauge
other notions
Tapestry needle and scissors.
gauge
18 stitches x 28 rows in 10x10 cm (4x4”) in garter stitch, blocked
pattern notes
Video tutorials for specific techniques are linked and showing as yellow.
The towel is worked side to side rather than bottom to top, to create vertical stripes in the simplest way.
As the tea towel is not a wearable item, gauge is not critical in this project - however if you can’t match the gauge listed, the tea towel will differ in dimensions and it may affect the yardage needed.
hanging loop
If you'd like to add a hanging loop to your tea towel, you can modify the pattern in finishing section as follows: bind off sts until there are only 2 left on the needles (1 on left needle and 1 on right needle), k1, slip both sts to the left needle. The loop cord will be worked over these last 2 sts. Work Row 1 until the cord measures approx. 10 cm (4”) or desired length.
Row 1 (RS): k2, slip the sts back to the left needle.
Bind off both sts and sew the end of the cord to the back of the tea towel corner to create the hanging loop.
Note that adding the loop will increase the yardage by approx. 5 m (5 yds).
color changes
To start a row with a new color, first break (cut) previous color yarn, leaving approx. 15 cm (6") tail, then take the new color yarn strand and start working the new row, leaving starting tail of approx. 15 cm (6") - slip the first stitch, then knit the next stitches with the new strand. See this in the tutorial.
instructions
With MC, cast on 77 sts using Long Tail Cast On.
Work Set Up Row 1 three times.
Set Up Row 1 (MC): sl1wyif, k until end of row.
STRIPE SEQUENCE
Break MC and join CC1, and work Row 1 four times.
Row 1 (CC1): sl1wyif, k until end of row.
Break CC1 and join MC, and work Row 2 four times.
Row 2 (MC): sl1wyif, k until end of row.
Break MC, join CC2, and work Row 3 four times.
Row 3 (CC2): sl1wyif, k until end of row.
Break CC2, join MC, and work Row 4 four times.
Row 4 (MC): sl1wyif, k until end of row.
Next, work the 'stripe sequence' five more times more times, breaking and joining the correct yarn colors as you work. At the end, you will have worked 99 rows of the towel in total (including the set up rows).
Finishing
Bind off all sts using a standard bind off, cut yarn and weave in ends. Block to dimensions.
I hope you enjoyed knitting your project! If you share your project on Instagram, please tag me with @whileberry.creative and #knitwithwhileberry so I can see your lovely knit!
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