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How to Share Your Family Recipes on Home Decor

With Laurie from the Spoonflower Email Team

  • DIY Projects
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  • Tea Towel
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Reading Time: 0 minutes
Edited: May 17, 2022
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A table runner with a design of overlapping handwritten recipes in black cursive font lays down the center of a table. An off-white saucer with a tan rim and small navy accents sits to the right of the photo with a silver spoon to the left, three small square wafer cookies to the bottom and a cup of black tea in the center. A brown planter with green leaves on brown stems is to the left of the saucer. A cream-colored teapot with a brown spout sits at the top of the photo with a drawing of an old hotel.

Since our tea towel recipe tutorial is one of the blog’s most beloved posts, we started wondering, what other Spoonflower products could showcase and celebrate our family recipes? How else could we bring memories (often kept stowed away for safekeeping) into our homes for everyday use?

I recently inherited a family recipe book, and given my background in design and interest in genealogy, thought I’d take this project on! 

Read on to learn how I turned century-old family recipes and photos into a table runner, wall hanging, tea towel and cocktail napkins—all of which were reprinted and shared with family members!  

The Family Heirlooms

 

A 1924 wedding photograph of a just married couple standing in the middle flanked by two young girls sitting in chairs on either side wearing white hats, dresses, socks and shoes and holding large bouquets of flowers. The groom is wearing a suit with a white shirt and dark tie along with a hat. The bride is standing next to him, to the left, holding a bouquet in her right hand, and wearing a white dress, hat with a veil pulled over it and hanging down her back, and white tights and shoes. The photograph is sitting on top of the bride’s open recipe book. The words “Recipe book” are written on the top of the left page in thin black cursive font. The name Miss Beatrice Smith is written on the top of the right page, followed by an address, 98 Bury Old Rd, Haulgh, Bolton.

The inside cover of Laurie’s great-grandmother Bea’s recipe book, along with a photograph from her wedding day in 1924.

About the 100-year-old Recipe Book and Photographs

This 100-year-old recipe book belonged to my great-grandma Beatrice—my grandmother’s mother. Beatrice was a confectioner’s apprentice in her teens at school in the early 1920s, then later employed as a confectioner at the Ainsworth Arms Hotel in her hometown of Bolton, England.

If you look closely, many of the book’s recipes call for bulk ingredients—evidence that supports a young apprentice or paid professional bustling around the kitchens of a popular public house full of hungry patrons.

The book has a few pages with residue of batter or some other ingredient which is part of the special nature of a well-used cookbook. I also love my great-grandma’s handwriting—if you look closely, you can see that she was using a fountain pen.

The earliest photo we have of Beatrice is from her childhood, which I’ve included on the design of my wall hanging. The next photo is from her wedding to my great-grandfather Harold Ashworth in 1924.

A handwritten recipe book lays open flat on a white table, showing both left and right pages of the book. The cursive text is written in thin black ink. On the lefthand page, from top to bottom, are recipes for tea cakes, currant tea cakes and turog bread. On the righthand page, from top to bottom, are recipes for black treacle toffee, vanilla and Swiss short breads.
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A Few of Beatrice's Recipes

On the left, recipes for tea cakes, currant tea cakes and turog bread. On the right, recipes for black treacle toffee, vanilla and Swiss short breads.

A handwritten recipe book lays open flat on a white table, showing both left and right pages of the book. The cursive text is written in thin black ink. On the lefthand page is a recipe for Xmas pudding. On the righthand page, is a recipe for lemon pudding at the top and plum cakes at the bottom.
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Puddings and Plum Cakes

On the left, a recipe for Xmas pudding. On the right, a recipe for lemon pudding and plum cakes.

A handwritten recipe book lays open flat on a white table, showing both left and right pages of the book. The cursive text is written in thin black ink. On the lefthand page, from top to bottom, are recipes for almond paste, coffee buns and baking powder. On the righthand page, from top to bottom, are recipes for raspberry buns, Nelson bake and love bake.
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Raspberry Buns Plus a Few Bakes

On the left, recipes for almond paste, coffee buns and baking powder. On the right, recipes for raspberry buns, Nelson bake and love bake.

A handwritten recipe book lays open flat on a white table, showing both left and right pages of the book. The cursive text is written in thin black ink. A photo of a young woman covers the bottom of the lefthand side of the page. On the lefthand page is a recipe for ginger biscuits and the beginning of a jam scone recipe, the rest of which is underneath the photograph. On the righthand page, from top to bottom, is a recipe for hot cross buns and wheatmeal biscuits.
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Young Beatrice With a Few of Her Recipes

A photograph of young Beatrice on top of her handwritten recipes.

A close up of the bottom right corner of a page with a recipe written on it in black fountain pen. The edges of the page have black smudges suggesting lots of use. The edge of a recipe calling for orange peel, sultanas, cherries and currants is shown.
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Recipe Close Up

A close up of one of Beatrice’s recipes.

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Whittling Down What Recipes to Include

Since I wanted to design items that could generate conversation, I picked out quintessential English staples people might easily recognize: hot cross buns, mincemeat, biscuits, tea cakes, puff pastries, black treacle toffee, jam scones, raspberry buns and more.

I also was drawn to something called ginger wine, which appears to be a tincture. This list is starting to sound a bit like the Great British Bake Off—and I like to imagine my British great-grandmother would do quite well in an early 20th-century version of my favorite baking competition!

 

A table runner with a design of overlapping handwritten recipes in black cursive font lays down the center of a dark brown wooden table. An off-white saucer with a tan rim and small navy accents sits to the right of the photo with a silver spoon to the left, three small square wafer cookies to the bottom and a cup of black tea in the center. A blue glass bottle sits right above the saucer, with one round yellow dried flower shown sticking out from it. A cream-colored teapot with a brown handle is partially shown to the left.
Close up dinner napkins printed with family recipes in black cursive handwritten text. Ingredient lists are shown on each napkin, and the titles of three recipes, Royal Genoa cakes, slab bake and mince meat are shown.

The Design Process

Deciding Which Spoonflower Products to Print

I chose mostly dining products (the table runner and cocktail napkins) because I envisioned having my family over for a proper British tea party to celebrate my great-grandmother. Since I was inspired by her recipe book, it was a natural fit to be able to pull these items out when I want to create a heartfelt dining tablescape. My next phase will be working my way through her book to recreate her recipes!

How I Created the Designs

First, I took high-resolution photos of the pages of the book in natural lighting about five feet from a window. To create the designs to upload onto Spoonflower, I made two different seamless repeats in Adobe® Photoshop®, taking care to carefully remove the background of my images.

I sized repeat #1 as 20×20” (50.8 cm x 50.8 cm) at 150 dpi which, due to the way they print, allowed me to get a single order of (four) cocktail napkins that are each slightly different since they are a smaller size of 10×10” (25.4 cm x 25.4 cm).

For the table runner, I created a seamless repeat that was the same width but half the height of the finished table runner so that the pattern repeated twice. This allows me to frame the recipes exactly the way I wanted them—and include more of them.

Last, I created a non-repeating file for the wall hanging based on tea towel measurements.

A wall hanging featuring handwritten recipes scattered along the back of the design and three photos on the top of the recipes, the top photo is a vintage photo of a woman smiling at the camera, the middle photo is a 1924 wedding photo with a groom and a bride standing in the middle of the photo with two small girls sitting at either side of them holding flower bouquets and the bottom photo is another vintage photo of a woman smiling and looking to the left. The wall hanging is hanging against a white wall and above a bookcase with brown shelves and black edges. A short green candlestick with a short white candle in it, an open book, a cream teapot with a brown top, handle and spout and a drawing on a hotel on it and a short white candle in a brass candlestick, are visible on the top shelf from left to right.
A close up of wall hanging showing handwritten recipes scattered along the back of the design and two photos on the top of the recipes, a photo of a 1924 wedding photo with a groom and a bride standing in the middle of the photo with two small girls sitting at either side of them holding flower bouquets and the bottom photo is a vintage photo of a woman smiling and looking to the left. The wall hanging is hanging against a white wall and above a bookcase with brown shelves and black edges. A short green candlestick with a short white candle in it, an open book, a cream teapot with a brown top, handle and spout and a drawing on a hotel on it and a short white candle in a brass candlestick, are visible on the top shelf from left to right.

What I Did with the Final Spoonflower Products 

I ordered my aunts each a tea towel to start and gave my mom the three items I created for this blog post. For myself, I think I will order another wall hanging and some dinner napkins, which are my favorite. If you are creating your own family recipe project, be sure to click the “See All Products” button within your Design Library to see (and order) the home decor items you love most. I may even print the recipes on wallpaper—how cool would that be?

As I mentioned for the recipes themselves, I plan to start working my way through them one delicious sweet bake after another. As a vegetarian, I will swap out the lard for something else, and I will need to experiment with an egg replacer as I don’t eat those either. Many of these recipes do not have instructions, because who has time for that when you know exactly what you’re doing!

 

How the Gifts Were Received by Family Members

Everyone absolutely loved them! One of my aunts is planning to frame her tea towel for safekeeping and my mom was just so proud to see her grandmother’s heirloom pieces in this tangible way.

Wonder what else you can do with family recipes?

See our recipe posts
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As Seen in Martha Stewart Magazine: 8 Ways to Make Spoonflower’s Most Pop...

As seen in Martha Stewart and Southern Living, the family recipe tea towel is the perfect DIY gift for anyone in your family.

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Laurie Shipley portrait

Laurie Shipley

Laurie Shipley is a full-time dreamer and part-time writer, illustrator, designer and lettering artist from Durham, North Carolina, USA. She works in brand marketing and takes on the occasional commission when time allows. Check out more of her work at LaurieShipley.com and connect with her on Instagram.

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  • Love this idea, I will visit my mom soon, and this post gave me the idea to take a look to her cooking book, she used to have a beautiful hand writing!

    Alex | May 4, 2022 at 9:49 am
    Reply
    • What a wonderful idea, Alex!

      Laurie did a great job with this post, creating such beautiful work celebrating and honoring Beatrice’s recipes!

      Best,
      Betsy
      Spoonflower

      Betsy | May 5, 2022 at 10:06 am
      Reply
  • Is there a something other than photo shop to get the recipe ready for print?

    Mary Lou Lorenz | April 27, 2022 at 3:46 pm
    Reply
    • Hi Mary Lou!

      You can find more detailed information at this link: https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/sections/200793490-Designing-Uploading

      And while this link is specific to a tea towel, it also shares more info that might be helpful, including alternate programs to use: https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/360055113052-How-To-Design-A-Recipe-Tea-Towel

      And if you need help revising your design, you might find this of use: https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/205257760-Revising-Your-Design.

      Hope that helps!

      Best,
      Betsy
      Spoonflower

      Betsy | April 29, 2022 at 10:08 am
      Reply
  • These are wonderful! A couple of years ago, my friend and Spoonflower designer Suzan Engler helped me create placemats using family recipes. They were a great gift to family members however they aren’t being used. All are afraid of ruining them with food spills so I’ll need to figure out a solution to coax them into use 🙂

    Cindy Cash | April 27, 2022 at 10:43 am
    Reply
    • Hi Cindy,

      Thanks so much for reading my family’s story! I absolutely love to hear that you’ve also created home decor heirlooms from family recipes—it’s so satisfying to appreciate them in this tangible way, isn’t it?

      Preserving the integrity of your Spoonflower home decor and fabrics is easy with our care instructions. Maybe this will help your family feel better about using yours? My table runner and cloth napkins are going to be reserved for special occasions, but the great thing about them is that I can keep the actual recipe book tucked away for safekeeping while enjoying the more durable cloth products!

      Here are our care instructions in case that helps:
      https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204444760-Caring-for-Your-Spoonflower-Products

      Warmly,
      Laurie Shipley

      Laurie Shipley | April 29, 2022 at 11:37 am
      Reply
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