Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial
Make Your Own Reusable, Washable Kitchen Towel
With a new baby on the way I decided that the chances are we will be having lots more spills and messes to clean up, so it was time to upgrade my kitchen roll to a much cheaper, prettier and eco friendly option - washable, reusable and gorgeous 'unpaper' kitchen towel!
The main difference I think with kitchen towel compared to other washable wipes is that they are bigger, kitchen space is often at a premium, and they need to be on hand quickly to clear up spillages. This is why the button hole and hook system is perfect! Quick and easy to use, no extra cupboard space needed, and easily accessible.
What you will need:
Fabric scraps! If you want to make cleaning up more fun, then the prettier the better! I like to use cotton for one side and cut up a towel for the other. That way, all the raw edges are sealed in making them more durable. I also like having one smooth side and one fluffy side, then you can just flip sides to suit your job. e.g. towel side to clean up spilt liquid, or cotton side to brush up crumbs!
My kitchen towels were approx. 20x25cm to cut out but you can make yours bigger or smaller as you prefer. Just remember to add yourself a seam allowance all the way around, so finished, mine are 18cm x 23cm. Keep in mind though that the bigger you go, the more likely the cotton will gape away from the towelling on use, so you'd need to sew across the fabric if it was much bigger.
How to make it:
Cut out plenty of each - nobody can get far with only 1 kitchen towel!
Simply pin one cotton with one towelling right sides together
Sew along 3 edges leaving one short side open. I find that using a roller foot on my sewing machine and having the towelling underneath while sewing makes it much easier to keep my fabric lined up as the towel is stretched less. A walking foot would work equally well
Clip the corners then turn your kitchen towel right side out.
Tuck the open edge underneath itself and pin into place.
Top stitch all the way around all the edges. I tend to move closer to the edge on the open side just so that the fabric is held closer together which gives a feel more like the other edges.
Put a button hole near the top to hang it from. I made mine on the widest setting for my buttonhole sewing machine foot.
Repeat! I figured about 10-12 should give me a couple of fresh wipes each day without ever running low. It will depend on your cleaning preferences and your washing frequency as to how many you'll need!
Then find an over cupboard hook or as my friend suggested today, a banana stand, and hang them up ready to use.
We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment.
Happy Sewing!
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I like giving new life to my very used and old towels this way. Thank you for the idea that is easy enough for anyone to sew.
That makes me so happy to hear! I’m so pleased those towels are getting a new pretty and useful life, and that you found it easy to do!
Would you pre-wash the non-towel fabric to prevent the fabric getting wonky when washed?
If it was something you were concerned about then yes absolutely you could. I haven’t noticed any of mine go wonky with the cotton I’ve been using though so it’s not something I bother with.
awesome ideas love them
marge
I love this !! Thanks for sharing.
I like the pattern. What seam allowance do you use? Do have to make a button hole or can you make them and put them in a drawer.
You could absolutely make them without a buttonhole and pop them in a draw. 1/4-1/2 inch seams work well.
Love this project idea. Thank you, I’m going to mass produce as Christmas or birthday gifts for my kids and myself. I love having clean things at hand to wipe up especially since I switched from a sponge to a washcloth as my cleaning tool several years ago. This is even better….terry side to wipe and cotton side to dry up (potentially).
I often use mine that way. I hope you enjoy yours too!
In the hospital your tutorial has given me so much hope to get home and make safely.
could you use an old chinelle bed spread for the terry cloth side and would it be absorbant
I haven’t tried it but I would have thought it should be lovely (assuming it is a cotton based chenille). If it is a poly mix fabric, I’d just double check a corner dipped in water before you cut it up to check. I’d love to know how they come out for you.
Thank you….i.love this project….
Thank you! That’s so kind of you. Linda x
Love the tutorial. Clear instructions that a beginner (like me) can understand a starting off project that I can understand and give sewing machine practice. Never done a buttonhole before cannot wait to try. Thank you and more please. X
Thank you so much. I’m so pleased you found it helpful 🙂
I am going to make napkins like this
What a fantastic idea!
Thank you, great tutorials!!!
What a great idea. Thank you for sharing. In my mom’s day nothing went to waste. Old rags always found a use.
I’m over 70 and this is an adorable update on the way it was done in the olden days. We used the ragbag method, adding up towels and t-shirts for cleaning rags which were washed and reused. Love this. Thanks
That’s exactly how things were done by my mum too. So pleased you like my take on it 🙂
That is a very clever idea. A very neat way to keep fresh cloths handy for quick cleanups.
So pleased you liked them 😀
Excellent idea! Thank you!
So pleased you liked it!
This is great! Even if I don’t any longer have small children, I intend to sew some of these! Givng colour to my kitchen they also will be neat when my grandchildren will be visiting! Thanks for the idea!
I hope you enjoy them! Kids or not, I wouldn’t be without them now. They come in so useful and look so much cuter around the kitchen than a kitchen tissue roll
Powhatan a super idea!! I’m going to make several for Christmas and we’ve got 3 new great grand babies coming in the summer to make these for.
What a great idea! Thank you for sharing!
What a wonderful idea! I LOVE it!!! I am going to make some up really fast because they sound so handy. It is a great way to stay ‘green’ also!!! Thank you so much for this idea!!!
I really enjoyed this, very easy to do.
Thank you!
Perfect and fun to make. My friend will use for teaching her granddaughters to sew.
Fantastic! I’m so pleased you enjoyed making them
Love the tutorials I saw
Thank you so much!
Looks amazing can’t wait to start . Where is your shop in Edinburgh?
Thank you. I’m afraid we only have a shop in Wirral, but we do post to you 🙂
I LOVE these! I haven’t purchase nor used paper towels in several decades. I have a stack of older kitchen towels that are easier/“greener” to wash than cutting down forests for paper ones.
However, getting other people to use them is often difficult and ofttimes they are too big.
These (smaller) cuties are perfect!! I love the practicality of having the cotton & terry sides, brilliant. I also love that I can use favorite fabrics, & can make bunches if them for different holidays and seasons.
And, my oh-so-millennial niece & her fiance are getting a BIG stack of these for Winter Solstice!
Thank you for posting.
Thank you so much, what a lovely comment! I really am so pleased you like them so much. I adore mine, they get used all the time. I think not only are they way better for the environment, but they are just so much tougher and better at cleaning up than their paper counterparts. I hope your fiance and niece enjoy them as much as I do 😀
THANKS. Great Idea. Will definitely do it.
Brilliant! I’d love to know how they come out!
Great idea!!!
This looks like a fun project n it’s different. No matter what the need us you always need to have plenty of towels no matter what the occasion?
Thanks Rachel. I completely agree. They are great for day to day, but could really add some fun to the kitchen with different festive or seasonal prints too!
I was thinking of making this because I don’t have any bars on my dishwasher. Someone had same idea!! I’ll be using those removable Command brand hooks for mine. Great minds and all that! Thanks!
Sometimes the most simple ideas are the best aren’t they! I definitely wouldn’t be without mine, and they are fab for using up pretty fabric scraps! I hope you have just as much fun with yours 🙂
Great
I love this idea thanks so much for sharing…….
Thank you Shamela 😀
Even though my babies are Adults, I still plan to make as I hate buying paper towels, I can go to a goodwill and pick up towels cheap, can get quite a few out of them. Love, love this idea! Have a wonderful day
Thank you so much Juanita. I use mine all the time with or without the little ones help! They are so much better than paper towels too. No more soggy sticky hands with half disintegrated paper! I hope you have fun making yours 🙂
What a great idea both for the kitchen wipe and for how to hang them up with the buttonhole and over the door hook.
Thank you so very much for sharing this, and freely!
You are a kind and talented soul.
Hi Linda
Thank you so much for leaving such a lovely comment. That’s brightened my day right up. I hope you have fun making your own washable wipes. I know we never seem to have enough of them!
Great idea for a beginner project! Thanks so much!
Thanks Dawn, so glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful 😀
Flannel on one side and towel on the other side works well too.
Great tip! Thanks Sue
i love this idea and i will be making some for myself. thank you for sharing your idea. 🙂
I’m so glad you found it useful. I use my kitchen wipes all the time – I think I need to make more though as there never seem to be enough! I’d love to see how yours turn out.
I love the ideals you have on the kitchen wipes. You can never have enough wipes in a kitchen.
Thank you for your ideal.
I’m going to make these. Probably with Terry towels on both sides for me.
Brilliant. I’d love to know how you get on with them. I’d probably avoid the thick luxury type towels or you might end up with quite bulky seams by having terry for both sides 😀
Love this idea. I’m going to try it. This will be great for my grandkids.
Thank you 😀 If you do have a go, I’d love to see how they turn out!
Thought this idea was kind of silly, but made a few anyway. I love them and use them everyday. For a couple of cloths I used a recycled towel on one side and cotton on the other side. These didn’t absorb efficiently. Then I made several more with recycled towels on both sides. I prefer terry cloth on both sides. Thank you the inspiration.
Thank you! I’m so pleased you had a go and like them. I’ve got about a dozen and I don’t think I could go back to paper towels now. Sounds like you’ll be the same 😀 Looking forward to hearing what you make next!
Lovely idea.Shall sew some today.
Thank you. I’d love to see how yours come out 😀
Can you please also show measurements in inches, also give the pattern in print also, with just instruction not picures. C an red er back to pattern to look at pictures.
I’ve added a print, email and bookmark option along with the social share buttons on all of my tutorials, so hopefully one of those will work for you to make it easier to refer back to. For inches, simply divide any measurement given in cm by 2.5.
Ha. Teaching us to use that math we took eons ago. Thanks for the conversion reminder.
It’s 8 by 10 inches
Cool idea! TFS!
I like all your ideas, thank you
Very interesting and useful thoughts you have. Thank you for sharing.
Nan
This is such a cute and good idea. I think I’ll make some for me and for my 3 daughters as well. Maybe a friend or two also.
If you do have a go, I’d love to see how they come out.
These are so cute. I made some cleaning cloths using an old flanette sheet and just serged all around. Much quicker than turning them. I made more than 25 in about an hour.
That’s good going on your speed! I have some that I’ve made like that too and they are just as good… but I can never get them quite as pretty that way!
Very useful and creative. Instead of toweling which may fray in places, I used up my old cotton hand loom and cheesecloth material curtains for the mop-up side and more colorful material for the smooth side. If buttonholing is a problem, a small cloth loop inserted in the center while stitching up the gap on the side after turning the dishcloth inside out, will work too.
Great ideas. Love the idea of using curtain material. Thanks
THANK YOU.. for this.. I am also trying to make hooded towel and bibs for a friend who is having a baby at age 46, and has nothing for new little girl. any suggestions? thanks
If you go on to our tutorials index page sewingbeefabrics.co.uk/free-tutorials there are a handful of baby projects there you can try too. 😀
I wish I’d have seen this when mine girls were babies, as I totally relied on kitchen wipes to keep on top of things. This would have been a great idea and so easy to make too
jes I would never have thought up something like these, you are so creative and with the amount of paper towels I go though, I should really try and make these, well done
What a lovely idea. I’d lovely to make things myself but my sewing machine broke! And I didn’t use it enough to warrant fixing it. Shame as having pretty cloths like this is so much nicer than standard kitchen towels!! X
Oh no! I’d be having a wobbly if mine broke! You could always have sew one a couple of times a week and you’d soon build up a stash 🙂
And my husband teases me for having 3 sewing machines, of course one is a serger, and one is a 80 stitch and the other one is my work horse, but if my workhorse broke I’d be totally lost! I have fun playing with the 80 stitches, but the serger and the old singer workhorse are my backbone! They make things like purses, wallets, card holders, slippers and (shoes if I’m in the mood which isn’t too often)
That is such a great idea! A great way to watch those pennies too! Cxx
That’s a great idea, I already have reusable wipes for my baby and toddler for meal times. I never thought to make some to replace kitchen towel, we go through crazy amounts. I’ll definitely have a go at making some of these (or ask my Mum!)
If you (or your mum) do make them, I’d love to see how they come out. Mine are 5 months and 2 years and I’ve saved a fortune by using them instead with the mess they both make!
Interesting idea to make kitchen towel wipes. Good on the sustainability front, and much prettier than paper towels
This is amazing! I have some fabric samples that will be perfect for making my own reusable kitchen wipes! LOVE the buutton hole idea, I would never of thought of that. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you. If you do have a go at making them, I’d love to see how they come out.
This is a great idea! Never thought of doing this. Very cost effective and looks fun.
Oh I love this, so much prettier than regular kitchen wipes and the button hole is so so clever. You could do the same with wash cloths and flannels as I find ours pour out of doors and baskets all over the house
What a good idea! You could even use one of those suction hooks to let them drip dry over the bath!
What a super neat idea for creating home-made kitchen towels, I love it! I really like all your jolly fabric too – much nicer than plain old white. 🙂
Thank you! Your right, it’s far prettier in the kitchen. I find the fun fabric also makes it easier to encourage my little one to help with the cleaning too!
You talented mama – these look amazing and you make them sound so easy to make, even for a hopeless sewer like myself. They’re a much prettier option to the bog standard disposable kitchen roll as well xxx
Thank you, that’s very kind. They are a great beginners project, and with a messy toddler around have saved me a fortune in kitchen roll!
Id love to have a sewing machine to give something like this a go. I would love to be able to sew. These look great too, i think sewing by hand would take forever though 🙁 x
As long as your not worried about your stitches being precise, you could probably do 1 in half an hour ago you could build your stash over a couple of weeks with 1 a night, or if your little ones are old enough to teach, get them to give it a go!
I made something similar last year, but used towelling on one side which means they’re a bit more absorb-able (if that’s a word). And I used MOH’s old dressing gown for the towelling (clean of course) so it was another scrappy project.
Yep, I have an old towel as a backing on these and they’ve been amazing for cleaning up all my toddler’s many spillages. That’s a great idea to use the towelling from an old dressing gown! I never know what to do with the non-fluffy bits of towels so would love to know if you’ve got any scrap ideas for using them.
I do like the sound of these. I have only have a couple of cloths that could really take the place of kitchen towel, but this is a way of making some pretty ones of my own. Think I will stick to the disposable version for cat sick though.
Haha I don’t blame you!
I’m busting to get a sewing machine for Christmas this year.I have so much fabric from trawling charity shops this project would be a great start.
That’s a great way on building up a stash to start on. I’ve swapped a lot of fabric on freecycle too. I’d love to see what you start making next year.
Ooh – these are fab! They look very easy to make and are so much prettier than boring kitchen towels!
They are a fantastic beginner project and they’ve come in so useful with a messy toddler around, I’ve saved a fortune in kitchen roll!
I have used old worn out flannel or t-shirt material sheets. Usually it is just middle that gets worn out so you get a lot out one sheet even when you make them double and sometimes I get the server out for these.
Yes I use old t-shirts for making reusable wet wipes, and my mum uses them as dusters. It’s a great way to upcycle them!