Un-paper towels

I had never used paper towels until I married my husband. My mom - and then I - always used kitchen towels or dish cloths to wipe up spills in the kitchen. In an effort to save money and be more eco-friendly, we switched to "un-paper" towels and cloth napkins a couple years ago.

I keep the towels in a little bowl by the sink so they are easy to grab. The old blue ones didn't match the new kitchen paint so I made coordinating cloths. (The old ones, which were looking pretty sad anyway, have been demoted to regular house cleaning rags. ) I get a lot of compliments on the bowl of towels and I love being able to tell people what they're for and give them food for thought.

Supplies to make eight 11" x 11" double layered cloths:

fabric - 2 yards makes 8 double layered cloths. I used cotton flannel and cotton terry
thread
scissors
sewing machine

**Be sure to wash your fabric before you cut to pre-shrink the fabric.**


Cut 12" x 12" squares. I was pretty sloppy with my cutting as you can see. Put two squares together, right sides facing each other. I did some with one side flannel and one side terry and some with both sides flannel. Sew around the edges, leaving an opening to turn the whole thing right side out. I used 1/2" seam allowance. Snip the corners at a diagonal so you can make a nice clean point when you turn it right side out.


Turn right sides out and poke at the corers so they make nice edges. I used a pen to really get in there.


Fold in the opening and sew around the edges of the cloth. I lined the edge up with the edge of my sewing foot.