Tutorial- The UNpaper Towel

I cannot say I am great at “going green”. It’s not that I don’t want to be environmentally friendly; it’s really a matter of putting it into practice. I do try though to take small steps towards being kind to our Earth whenever I can. I focus on reusing everything I possibly can, request paperless billing with all companies who offer it, use reusable containers for the kids snacks (I hate buying to go packs), make the most of natural lighting in our home, and of course recycle anything that can be recycled.

Today I took another step towards helping the environment thanks to great ideas found on the Internet. The UNpaper towel! Would a rag work just as well? Sure! Is it pretty and coordinated to my kitchen? NO! I like practical but pretty, so this was totally my style! Aren’t they cute?

Now I am no seamstress and I have a very limited knowledge of sewing in general but I was able to figure these out.  Don’t be scared.

How do you do it? Funny you should ask because here is how!

Visit your local fabric store and pick out 1 yard of terry cloth and 1 yard of a cotton or flannel fabric.

Start by washing and ironing your fabric.

Cut your fabrics into 12x12 squares making sure they are as uniform as possible. If the measurements are off, your fabrics will not line up when you sew them together. (Tip: I used a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper as a stencil on my fabric.  Being the perfect size, it worked out great.) You should be able to make 9 squares out of each type of fabric making 18 squares total.

Next, layout a terry cloth square and place a cotton square on top of it.  Make sure the print side is down. Being sure your squares are perfectly lined up, pin them together very well so they do not shift while you sew. Repeat with your remaining fabric until you have all 9 squares pinned.

Sew your squares together with a quarter inch allowance (Tip: the foot of your sewing machine should line up with the edge of your fabric to make quarter inch allowance.) Completely sew 3 sides.  On the 4^th side, sew your edge only three quarters of the way.

Now, you turn your fabric right side out by pulling it through the edge you did not sew. Once it is completely pulled through and flattened out you may sew the remaining edge closed.

Next, sew a diagonal line across your square so that your towel will not bunch up when you wash it. Repeat until all 9 squares are complete.

Now you will put the snaps on your squares.  There are a variety of snaps available.  Some can be put on using a punch and then you snap them on, others can be sewn.  (I chose the type you sew on to save on cost but be forewarned it does take quite a bit longer to hand sew them.)

Each of these snaps has a male end…

And a female end.

Turn your towel to the terry cloth side. Attach 2 male ends to the top and bottom of the right hand side of your towel.

Turn your towel to the cotton side. Attach 2 female ends to the top and bottom of the right hand side of your towel.

Repeat with all 9 towels.

Lastly, snap your towels together female end to male end (G rated thoughts now.)

When all your towels are snapped together, roll them up and there you go! UNpaper towels that can be washed and reused to your hearts content! Pretty nifty huh?