Thrifty Thursday #2: Re-purposing Towels

Hello, Friends! Hope you have all been well. We've had some coughs and sniffles around the house, and today Wheels is home from school. He has a chesty cough and had a hard time getting to sleep last night, so we thought it best that he stay home where he can rest and I can make sure that he has plenty of fluids.

It is Thursday again, so it's another post on being thrifty. Before I get started, though, I just wanted to say that some of these posts will require sewing and a sewing machine. (Unless you are extremely talented with hand sewing!) Now, a sewing machine can be quite an investment, especially when you are living paycheck to paycheck. But it is an investment. You don't need a fancy one with lots of bells and whistles, just a basic sewing machine. And it will save you money. You will be able to mend and hem clothing, re-purpose or "up-cycle" clothing (see Thrifty Thursday #1) and make many things for your family and for gifts. Don't have sewing skills? I'm sure you can find someone in your circle of friends and family that will be willing to teach you. That being said, let's move along to Thrifty Thursday #2!!!!

Today is a two-fer! (Wow, really yucking it up with the hyphens today, huh?) The first idea is not my own, but from another blogger that has a lovely blog, complete with music! Over at Blissfully Content she shows us how to make some lovely cleaning cloths. Mine are not that pretty, and I won't horrify you with the results. I was rather slap-dash making mine, but they get the job done and have helped me to cut down on the paper towel usage. That, my friends, is a very nice thing for both the pocket book and the landfill! I even color coded mine according to what color towel I used. Blue for the bathroom and pink for the kitchen. Then I don't need to worry about cross contamination.

So, I made some cleaning cloths ans had some smaller strips of old towel left over. What to do with them? LIGHT BULB! I'll make my own reusable cotton squares for applying my ACV toner! Instead of using cotton balls or those round cotton pads, I now use these terry cotton squares and just toss them into the laundry when I'm done using it. Again, it saves money and the earth. They are easy to make and would make a great project for a beginning sewer, or if you have a little one that wants to see what you are doing and insists on being in your lap. Believe it or not, I snapped some pics for a tutorial! Not that I don't think that y'all can't figure it out on your own, but I have a "technique" that saves time and thread. Here goes!

Cut any banding off of your towel scraps, then cut into the width that you want.
Keep your fabric in strips!

Sew a straight stitch close to the edge of your fabric strip, all the way around.

Now sew stitches across the width of you fabric like pictured above. I sewed my
stitch, then picked up the presser foot WITH OUT cutting the thread, turn your fabric and sew in the other direction, leaving a bit of a margin between your stitching, all the way to the end of your strip.

When you are done sewing, cut between your lines of stitches.

Now you have a lovely pile of reusable cotton squares!

I hope that my "tutorial" wasn't too confusing. I thought that I could do it, but then the words got all screwy in my head and I think I muddled it all up, but the pics should help. Or you can sew them however you want. It's not like I'm going to come to your house and check up on you. (Unless you have some chocolate cookies or something! ;D)

There you go, a two-fer Thrifty Thursday! Let me know if you use these ideas, I'd love to hear from you! And if you have any ideas that you would like to share, let me know. And now, because it's been a long time since the gratuitous pic of my kitty or my kids, another two-fer:

I just love this picture! It loos like Teddy Bear is praying with Merlin. It was so cute that I had to grab my camera. Hope you have a lovely Thursday!
Blessings,
Kelly