Recylcing old towels?

[Yooper]

I have a box of old towels my MIL send me. She sent them when I was making diapers. I have a bunch leftover and dd is WAY out of diapers. I was getting ready to donate them. They are in great shape, they just are not the most current style. I would use them for our own towels, but we do not have a linen closet and the towels we have are going to have a long life yet. So, like I said, Goodwill. But then this morning I realized we are very low on kitchen washcloths. We use those instead of paper towels and have for years. About half of my are threadbare and fraying. They really need to graduate to cleaning rags.

So. I need kitchen washcloths. I have a bunch of otherwise useless towels. I have a tempermental sewing machine and basic sewing skills. Can I make the towels into cloths? I dismissed the idea at first because I figured I would need a serger. Is there any other way?

[LEAW]

you can zig-zag the edges instead of using a serger

[Yooper]

Originally Posted by lisa2976

you can zig-zag the edges instead of using a serger

Do you just zigzag close to the edge?

[shell_sea]

I usually zigzig so that the edge of the sewing machine foot is on the edge of the fabric. This way the zigzags are very close but not going over the edge of the fabric.

You might get a little bit of fraying edges when you wash them, but the whole cloth won't fray apart because the zigzags will hold it together. You can always trim the frayed edges with scissors afterwards if it bugs you.

[mumkimum]

You could also sew bias tape around the edges. I've done this to prolong the life of old washcloths I really like. Makes 'em look kinda fancy too. AND you can pick up bags of bias tape semi-often at thrift stores too (yk, so it could be cheap).

[shell_sea]

ooh, bias tape is a nice idea. hadn't thought of that!

[Yooper]

Originally Posted by mumkimum

You could also sew bias tape around the edges. I've done this to prolong the life of old washcloths I really like. Makes 'em look kinda fancy too. AND you can pick up bags of bias tape semi-often at thrift stores too (yk, so it could be cheap).

Great idea!

[root*children]

We do that also. But ours go from bath towel to bathroom washcloth. Then when they are gross or have holes/fraying they go to kitchen rags. If the towel is too stained or frayed or threadbare, a good place to donate is your local humane society! They can always use towels

[momto l&a]

I use a bath towels folded long way put on a mop handle as my mop.

It works so much than a string mop. And when it gets yucky I throw it in the washer which you cant do with a string mop.

[msjd123]

Instead of bias tape, you could also use some wide grosgrain ribbon. Last summer, I turned two old bath towels into a stack of 20 bath mitts, all edged with striped grosgrain ribbon. I gave a few as baby gifts, and everyone said they looked like they had come from a boutique! The rest, we use ourselves, but I varied the ribbons so that 8 match the decor of one bathroom, and 8 match our other bathroom. They're quite pretty, if I do say so myself!

[SunRise]

Another idea for unwanted towels - Veternarians sometimes are in need of old towels...

[courtenay_e]

oooohhhh, the ribbon sounds so pretty! I'll have to remember that...

[Yooper]

How wide of ribbon did you use? Did you iron it in half lengthwise to speed up the process?

I will be making my thrift store circuit on Wednesday to get supplies.

I do donate towels to our local humane society after they get stained/threadbare. I keep some as cleaning rags but never need even a fraction of the amount I end up with. These are in pretty good shape and could still be used as nice bath towels for someone, but not me (no room). But I do often find old towels that are in not-so-great shape in the free bin at Salvation Army. I always pick them up for the humane society and the kennel we take our cats to

I also love the mop idea. I spot mop often. An easy way to do this is get dd to squirt the spots with diluted vinegar (what 3 yo doesn't love a squirt bottle) and I follow up with a damp washcloth wedged into an old swiffer mop I found at Vinnie's. Ihave never bought the actual swiffers cloths, but those rags really do a nice job.....and can be reused

[msjd123]

Originally Posted by Yooper

How wide of ribbon did you use? Did you iron it in half lengthwise to speed up the process?

I just went to go measure, and the ribbon is 1.5" wide, so 0.75" shows on each side. And yes, I ironed them; I made one without ironing the ribbon first, and it got all twisty and uneven.

I had a lot of fun with that project, and there are so many pretty striped and patterned ribbons out there!