Cloth Towels – Why and how to do it?

Paper towels became an indispensable part of every household – very easy to use and for that reason, fully adapted to the rhythm of modern social life. Suitable for homes and offices, it is very simple to clean with them, they are very absorbent and wipe quickly, but…

…let’s look at the other, negative side of this growing trend.

More than 6 million tons of paper towels are thrown away every year. By comparison, 17 trees and 200 000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 ton of paper towels. We must keep in mind that paper towels are not suitable for recycling.

The second bad thing about using paper towels is how much money we are spending on them. According to research, the average US family use 320 rolls per year and that is 315€ per year. On the other hand, if we start using cloth towels, this will be only 20€ per year.

Of course, with cloth towels!
Let’s look at the benefits of starting to use cloth towels.

If we look at the long term, cloth towels will be more profitable, because of their durability and washability. We can use it several times before washing, or just once, depending on what we are cleaning.

According to Robert Swan, an environmental activist: „The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.“

Each of us can make little life changes, and we can start with one which is easily available and simple for everyone – let’s replace paper towels with cloth towels.

Simple, and fun! Follow the directions we prepared for you!

For this DIY project, we decided to use Classic Cotton fabric with a blue-toned design with orange flowers. We offer 23 different types of fabrics so you can choose some other fabric but keep in mind to choose 100% cotton fabric (cotton absorbs better).

It is very easy to use, and it is often used for home decor products. The most important benefit if we look for cloth towels is absorbent and sustainability.

We used a 144 cm x 100 cm fabric and that will be enough for 20 cloth towels.

Let’s start with our little DIY project.

The list of what you need:

• 144 cm x 100 cm of Classic Cotton fabric
• Rotary blade or fabric scissors
• Straight edge ruler
• Pencil
• If you want to hem it, you will also need a sewing machine.

STEP 1

Place the fabric on a cutting mat or if you don’t have it, place it on a table and with the straight edge ruler draw thin lines in the dimensions of the 25 cm x 25 cm cube.

Tip for easier and faster cutting: you can cut a cube from cardboard and just use it to mark on the fabric so you don’t have to measure with a ruler every time

STEP 2

After cutting, turn them to the backside and roll them until you use all cut towels (shown in the video). Make sure at the beginning to leave some space to stand on the rack.