WalkFree Creations. Hand Embroidered tea towels featuring the Chicago skyline and vintage patterns.

WalkFree’s tea towel business grew out of the Covid pandemic. Nancy Freeman’s mother, Mary Freeman, who lives in Elk Point, South Dakota, went into self-imposed lock-down in early 2020, because of her age (81 at the time) and risk factors. Mary, an avid and talented embroiderer, desperately needed something to do. She began stitching dishtowels, which we marketed as “socially distant dish towels!”

With Nancy’s help, Mary moved on to tea towels, usually with vintage patterns. Herself an embroiderer (although not as good as her mother!), Nancy started stitching during the pandemic. She began with Chicago skylines, invented by friend Laura Berfield, a librarian and amazing, self-taught graphic designer.

Nancy now produces towels with sassy sayings. Plus, she creates patterns for her mother to stitch that meld vintage designs with modern phrases. Nancy also designs Chicago skyline towels that Sara Lukens at her store ChiTown Magpie, embroiders and sells.

Walkfree is a melding of Nancy Freeman and husband Scott Walker’s names. (The name and logo were developed by Laura Berfield.) While Scott doesn’t embroider (yet!), he is active in the creative process and serves as a sounding board for the business.

Currently, tea towels with the Chicago skylines and vintage designs are available for purchase at: ChiTown Magpie, 6443 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL.

For information regarding the purchase of other towels, please contact Nancy Freeman.