Free Washcloths!

Yup, I made 32 washcloths yesterday in about an hour and they were free! I love things that are free! You can do this too…all you need are a few supplies you probably have on hand!

A few old towels…I wait until I have 3-4 tattered towels.  These were all past their prime, some with holes, all of them with frayed edges.

You need a cutting mat and a rotary cutter, and a ruler or square.  I use a 10.5 inch square and cut all around it.  It’s not as easy to use a longer ruler, because I have to cut around holes and am not usually cutting a straight down-the-towel line.

I cut all around the square…I can usually get 6-8 washcloths out of a single towel.

I will cut the grooves at the ends of the towels too, adds some interest to the washcloth (probably putting in too much thought here, so just bear with me). Plus I can get more by getting that close to the edge!

Now this is messy work, there are lots of fuzz bits that appear when you start cutting a towel!

Now there is a great “side effect” (I can’t help using that term, I am a nurse!) of making these….you get lots of small pieces of towel that are good for things like staining furniture, cleaning yucky things (you can just toss them when done), and various other messy projects!

Now drag your tired rear end up to your sewing room and there you will need a sewing machine (I used my serger, but you can also use a conventional sewing machine with a zig zag stitch—just use a medium width close stitch to finish the edges).  I used Woolly Nylon thread that wears well and has a bit of “give” to it. 

I have also used regular old Coats and Clark sewing thread too, works fine!

So next I serged around the edges, rounding the corners as I went.  At the last corner, I rounded and then serged off the edge, leaving a tail of thread about 4-6 inches long.

Here’s my pile beside the sewing machine.  It seriously took less than an hour to make 32 of them using the serger…the regular sewing machine and the zig zag stitch would take a bit longer.

I stacked the washcloths with the thread tail on the same side, and used Fray Check to keep the thread from raveling when I washed the cloths.

I then wove the ends of the thread underneath the stitching to further keep them from raveling.  By the way, I have been making my own washcloths for probably 5 years, I have never had the stitching at the edges ravel.  I used rayon thread once that broke on a few of the washcloths so I haven’t used it again.

And here’s the finished product! I like how they are all exactly the same size so they stack neatly.

It seems like the cheap washcloths are about $3 each…so that’s about $96 worth of washcloths free!!  Did I mention this project didn’t cost me anything and was free??

I am linking to some of these great parties!