Its been a while since I posted a recycling/repurposing post. As I was about to start this project I realized I should document it and share with whoever may be out there reading this. You may know that we have been cloth diapering for a while now, and I am trying to re-think my use of paper/plastic products. I don't use a lot of paper towels, but I could use even fewer if I had enough good rags handy when I needed them.Enter the clearance-priced holiday washcloths!
I'll cut them, stitch them and stack them up where I usually have paper towels placed to use for wiping the table, counters, spills, etc. I will continue to use paper towels for things like the occasional cockroach or other nasties I don't want in my laundry. Before this venture, we used about a roll of paper towels per 1.5 months. Seriously, they last a while around here. I actually hate to use them because I feel wasteful, so I think having a cloth handy to wipe the counter will encourage me to keep cleaner surfaces. That's the "take-home" bonus for me, and the earth gets the less trash in the landfill, less chlorine bleached paper product production, less trees harvested for paper pulp bonus.
Here's the play-by-play:
I want small cloths so I will make 4 out of 1 washcloth. Chop 1, 2.
Here are my 16 square cloths.
To prevent them fraying to pieces, I zig-zag stiched the two cut sides of each square. Everytime I do a sewing project like this I have to confront my fear of sewing over my fingers. Please don't try that at home.
I cut off the tag from every 4th square.
Here's my new stack of wipe-up/scrub down/not-paper cloths!
