Earlier this week we featured a guest tutorial of Bonnie's gorgeous Reversible Paper Towels. They are made of woven fabric and turned out oh-so-beautiful. I'm sure they will be perfect for 99% of the population. For those of us with a bunch of little kids who love to "help" and create monster spills though, I thought it would be fun to come up with a more absorbent version!
So here is my play on Bonnie's reusable paper towels! They are woven on one side, terry cloth on the other, and have snaps to connect them like regular paper towels. They even fit on a regular paper towel holder! I made mine just two days ago but the kids love using them (yes, we've already had spills) and then I just throw them in the washer. My 2-year-old even likes snapping the towels back together for me once they're clean and dried. I see a lot of money savings on paper towels in the future for our family! Let's get started on the tutorial and you can do the same for yours:
First I cut four 12" squares out of woven fabric. Then I cut the same number of 12" squares out of an old towel. (You could also purchase terry cloth fabric if you don't have an old towel.) I put one fabric piece and one towel piece together with right sides facing and sewed around the edges 3/8" from the edge, leaving a 4" opening to turn them. I turned them right sides out and top stitched 1/8" from the edge. That gets us to what you see in the photo above.
If you would like more detailed instructions for this step, please see Bonnie's original tutorial here. (Note that I left a larger opening to turn because the terry cloth is more bulky.)
If you would like to attach snaps, we are ready to do that now. First I made a placement mark in each corner of each towel. I put the marks two inches down/up from the edge and 1" in from the sides. See the photo above. Then I attached the snaps like this:
- On the marks on the left side of each towel I installed a snap with the cap underneath and the socket on the top.
- On the marks on the right side of each towel I installed a snap with the cap on top and the stud underneath.
(If this is your first time installing snaps, you will find this blog post very helpful.)
The towels are now ready to overlap on the sides and snap in place. You can make as many towels connect as you'd like!
I love how handy and cute the towels are to display in my kitchen like this but you could also have them rolled up in a drawer or stacked on a shelf. Whatever you decide, I'm pretty sure they'll be more absorbent and more cost friendly than any paper towels you can buy. Plus they're cute and you can make them match other accessories in your kitchen.
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
