Unpaper Towels - A Tutorial

A few months ago I made the announcement to my husband that I would no longer be purchasing paper towels, and that the roll of paper towels sitting on our kitchen counter-top would be the last paper towels in our home.  He looked at me in confusion, and skepticism, quite probably wondering why I was suddenly waging war against the paper towels, but he didn't argue with me.  Unfortunately, I don't recall precise date in which I made my declaration, though I know for certain that it's been at least six months since we have had paper towels in our home, and I have yet to have one of those moments in which I said, "I wish I had a paper towel!"

The decision to banish paper towels from our home was based on a number of factors, the foremost being cost.  Let's do some quick and simple math:  If your household goes through two rolls of paper towels a week, and you pay $1 per roll, over the course of the year that's $104 spent on paper towels alone!  I know I can think of far better uses for that $104/year than buying paper towels!! Other factors included the fact that it would decrease the amount of trash that we have each week, and that it is simply more eco-friendly to use a reusable item rather than a disposable one.

So what do we use in place of paper towels?  We use Unpaper Towels!!  Okay, so honestly, they're just glorified rags, but they serve a specific purpose, and thusly need a name.  If you're unable to make your own as shown below, you could always use old washcloths or rags to serve similarly.

Unpaper Towel Tutorial

My Unpaper Towels began their lives as a bath towel, and a pair of flannel pajama pants.  The towel was getting rather frayed, and the pajamas had ripped and were no longer wearable.  I like the absorbency of the terry cloth, and the additional bulk of the flannel, but you really could use just about any scrap fabric that you have laying around.

To begin, I made a template out of a piece of newsprint.  My template measured 10.5" x 10.5".  With a 1/4" seam allowance this would result in an Unpaper Towel that was roughly 10" x 10".  You could make them larger or smaller, depending on your preference. 

For the flannel pieces, I began but cutting off all the seams from the pants, as closely as possible to the stitching so that I would have the largest pieces of flat fabric that the pants would yield.  The thin strips from the seams, I put into my waste pile (and later used to stuff my daughter's Tooth Fairy Pillow), and the elastic waistband went into my scrap bin.

Step 1: Pin the paper template to the fabric.  Trim the fabric so that it is the same size as your paper template.

To make things easier, I cut the towel along the decorative edge, so I was left with a rectangle of terry cloth without the fancy stitchery. (See below)

Step 2: Repeat Step 1 with your terry cloth piece.  When you're finished, you should have two pieces of fabric that are the same size.

I was able to get six 10.5" x 10.5" pieces out of each of my fabrics.

I only had small scraps of each remaining.  I added these scraps to my box of random scraps, you never know when they may come in handy.

Step 3:  Place your fabric wrong sides together, and using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch down the first edge.

Showing that the wrong sides are together.

Step 4: When you reach the corner of the fabric on the first side, lift your presser foot, and turn the fabric at a 90 degree angle, and continue stitching down the next side.  Repeat once more so that you have three sides fully seamed.

Step 5:  Continue stitching the last side as in Step 4, but leave a few inches of the fourth side unsewn (for turning right side out). Remember to back-stitch to secure the end of the seam.  Remove your Unpaper Towel from the sewing machine.

Step 6: Turn the cloth right side out, by pulling through the opening left in Step 5.

Your Unpaper Towel should now look like this.

Step 7:  Tuck 1/4" of fabric in the unsewn hole back into the hole along the edge of the fabric.

Step 8:  Keeping the edge still tucked, place it under your presser foot, and begin stitching using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 9:  Continue top-stitching down the edge of the fabric to the corner.

Step 10:  In the same manner as in Step 4, when you reach the corner of the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn the fabric 90 degrees, and continue stitching down the next side.  Repeat until all four sides are top-stitched.

Step 11 (Optional - I did this to keep the fabric pieces held together more):  When you reach the corner that you began with, turn the fabric 45 degrees, and stitch across the diagonal of the cloth to the opposite corner.

You should now have an Unpaper Towel that looks like this!! 

Step 12:  Find a place in your kitchen where they will be easily reachable, and display proudly!

Tooth Fairy Pillow

I'm not sure when it happened, or how the word of it spreads, but apparently in order for one to receive a prize from the Tooth Fairy, one must possess a "Toothy Fairy Pillow".  It is no longer adequate, nor acceptable to merely leave one's tooth beneath one's bed pillow on the eve of the Tooth Fairy visiting.  No!  One must leave their fallen tooth in a pillow designated and designed for such a task.  Much as a Christmas Tree is a social requisite of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy would be remiss should a lost tooth not be properly left in the sanctity of a Tooth Fairy Pillow!

Okay, I fully admit, I was naive.  Certainly, I had seen Tooth Fairy Pillows in catalogues before, and while I thought they were cute, they seemed a bit excessive.  Why can't the Tooth Fairy just pick up teeth old-school style, and fish them out from underneath the bed of the sleeping child, where the sacred tooth was sure to fall after the child restlessly tosses and turns waiting for that whimsical fairy to sweep in and steal their beloved tooth.  It wasn't until my daughter lost her first tooth that I finally understood how ingenious these little pillows were!  Being able to avoid sneaking into the room of a sleeping child and riffling around in the dark in search of a microscopic tooth tucked somewhere within the bedding of the fitfully sleeping child, by simply retrieving the tooth from the pocket of a pillow hung on the OUTSIDE of the child's door, PRICELESS!

After listening intently to the pleas of my daughter, as she explained to me the necessity of having a Tooth Fairy Pillow, and thinking about the ease of the Tooth Fairy's exchange should she indeed have one, I set out to find one of these new childhood necessities.  My first stop, of course, was Amazon.com, which did prove fruitful, they had a vast assortment of these little hanging pillows, in all shapes and sizes.  My two favorites are posted in the links below.

Unfortunately, being in a frugal frame of mind, I couldn't justify buying a tiny pillow that would only occasionally be put to use.  Off to my sewing room I trotted, and within minutes I had found everything that I needed to construct a Tooth Fairy Pillow myself.  Armed with a small amount of green fleece, a small scrap of pink felt, a piece of ribbon, a remnant of lace, a needle, and some embroidery thread, I set to work!

I hand stitched lettering (ineptly, but I *think* it's legible) on one side of the felt, and top-stitched it wrong sides together to a piece of fleece the same size.  I then stitched that to the front of one of the larger pieces of fleece, sewing along three sides, and leaving the top open to create the much needed "tooth pocket".  Placing the two main pieces of fleece wrong sides together, and sandwiching the edge of the lace between the edges of the fabric, I then sewed it all together (leaving one corner open for turning).  Using the small mountain of serger trimmings that had been piling up in the waste basket in my sewing room, I stuffed the little pillow with those shreds of scrap fabric.  Finally, I hand-stitched the remaining opening closed, and VOILA!  The result is this lovely little pillow.



Since I had all of the materials on hand, the only cost to me, was the time that it took to construct it.  Personally, any time that I get to myself, and get to hide away in my sewing room is invaluable!  I love crafting and creating something out of scraps that I have laying around.  I was quite proud of myself, but the true test would be what my daughter thought of it when I presented it to her.  When she arrived home, I proudly handed her my creation, and was paid in full with a huge ear-to-ear grin, a giant bear hug, and an "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!"  Never before have I received a greater payment than the love and adoration of my children!  This little pillow was well worth the time spent crafting it, just to see the joy on her face.

A Pretty Little Dress

Keeping my daughter clothed has become a challenge as she’s been going through numerous growth spurts lately.  Currently, she’s in rather desperate need of summer clothes.  I hesitate to buy an entire wardrobe for her because it’s costly, and the way she’s growing lately she’ll have outgrown them in the next week!!  So for now, she has the requisite shorts and t-shirts for summer wear, but not much else. 

For my birthday, in March, my husband’s grandmother was gracious enough to give me a gift card to a local fabric store.  This gift card has been sitting on my nightstand since then, dying for me to use it.  I didn’t have any particular projects in mind, but I had an afternoon to myself so I went shopping.  While I was in the fabric store, I saw this patterned cotton, and it SCREAMED at me to be made into a dress for my daughter.  Since I’m not one to deny the wishes of screaming fabric, I brought it home with me.  The fabric retails for $9.99/yard.  While it wasn’t the most inexpensive yard of fabric, I was shopping with a gift card, and had a 40% off coupon, combined, this made it a much more palatable purchase at $5.99/yard.

 

Armed with a vision, and my sewing machine, I set to work.  After two hours of very interrupted sewing (answering the never ending call of “MOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!”), this was the end result. 

I was quite proud of the final product, and for $5.99 my daughter has a brand new dress, and I have enough fabric left over to make her a matching headband, and a matching dress for her doll. 

This similar dress retails at $40.

Overall, for $5.99 (but free to me because I used my gift card) and a little bit of time spent in my sewing room, I’m calling it a success!