I already had a stash of cloth wipes from when Julia was in diapers. The nice folks at Kissaluvs sent them to me as a thank you for a photo of Julia they used in a Mothering Magazine ad, but over the years they've taken a beating and I wanted some new ones.
I turned to Google and read how to make my own cloth wipes from pieces of flannel. I found four receiving blankets at a garage sale for 50 cents a piece and cut up part of an old flannel sheet we had to make the patterned pieces stretch further. (One receiving blanket will only make four 8x8 wipes).
The first version I made is the one on the left - I sewed a piece of flannel to the back of an existing terrycloth wipe. Then I zigzagged the edge to cut down on the fraying.
The center wipe is two pieces of the same receiving blanket sewn wrong sides together, turned and then top stitched.
The wipe on the right with the adorable animal print is the one I stretched further with an old cream flannel sheet. It was fun to use a bolder color of thread for the top stitching. I think they look more finished.
I have one blanket that I haven't used yet because I want to see the wipes in action before I commit to a style for that blanket. I'm guessing the terrycloth/flannel combo is going to be my favorite - they are THICK and I can see them working really well with two textures in the same wipe.
If I do end up making more of that kind I won't be adding any additional wipes to the stash, only enhancing what I already have, but that's OK. I spent $2 on this little project and have 21 'new' wipes to show for it!
Just an idea: If you need to bulk up your wipes stash on the cheap and relatively easily, you can cut up an old beach towel and finish off the edges with a zig-zag stitch. I LOVE our beach towel wipes because one side is soft and the other side is the terry cloth :) Talk to you soon friend!
ReplyDeleteFUN! Much MUCH better than my cloth wipes. Mine are only one ply and kinda thin. Maybe I need to try again!
ReplyDeleteJenna - I am so thankful you suggested using an old beach towel! I made 25 wipes with an old towel today and they are awesome! I'm going to designate half of them for kitchen use so we can stop using paper towels. (for anyone else that wants to try making the towel version I recommend backing them with flannel - my machine wouldn't sew only terrycloth but did just fine with a thin flannel backing)
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