Reusable Kitchen Towel

A couple of weeks back I accidentally came across a blog about reusable kitchen towel on my Pinterest. We've been making the move to all things reusable (as much as possible and as much as I convince the husband) over the past few months, and I just think this is a brilliant idea! If you're like me, kitchen towel is pretty much just for mopping up children's spillages, and we seem to spend an absolute fortune on the stuff, just for it to go in the bin!

It took me a while to think of a material that was suitable for this and that I could buy in my local shops. In the end I found some lovely polka dot materials in my local fabric store for around £2-3 a metre and some of the wilkos value hand towels for £1 in my local Wilkinson's store which are perfect! The hand towels cut into 6 equal squares, and then I just cut out the same size square from my patterned fabric. You could just use 2 layers of towel but I wanted them to match my kitchen and to stand out from the other face towels I have for the kids (they're incredibly messy eaters!). The kitchen towels that I've made look like this...

I have found a few different tutorials which give lots of information and pictures showing how to make these. The one below is pretty much exactly what I did for mine, I've just not got around to adding the snaps!

http://thatshortgirlsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/reusable-paper-towel-tutorial.html

This tutorial is also brilliant as she has also added a tube with snaps for the inside, which is a such a good idea, because rolling these up neatly is difficult!

http://cateyedkp.tumblr.com/post/28130255598/unpaper-towel-tutorial

And for those without a sewing machine here is tutorial for hand sewn ones! This is packed full with information, so even if you're no good with a plain needle and thread (like me!), its full of tips to make these easy peasy to make!

http://www.mommypotamus.com/diy-unpaper-towels-without-a-sewing-machine/

These really are great and they're so much better for the environment! We're using these around 50% of the time at the minute, as we're just finishing up our final (and last!) rolls of kitchen towel. They are perfect for spillages and so much more absorbent! So far we are definitely a fan of these. We currently have two rolls but I have purchased the material to make another two rolls, which is sitting on my sewing desk currently waiting, alongside a couple of other projects.

I would imagine you would need to remake a fresh set or two every 6-12 months, depending on how much you use them or how well they're looked after but when you compare this with how much you'd spend on disposable kitchen roll, you'd still make a substantial saving... plus they're prettier!

I hope you've found this helpful! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of these and please subscribe to this blog :) x