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Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cloth Tissues and Napkins

My hubby has gone through an entire two boxes of kleenex with his cold this week, and I couldn't stand to go buy any more boxes. So, I grabbed some of my aunt's old handkerchiefs that I had sitting in a drawer to make a pattern off of and decided to grab one of my cloth napkins as well.

A cloth handkerchief is about 12"x12" and a cloth napkin is 16"x16." On the tissues, I am just using any worn flannel, but on the napkins where I want both sides to look the same, I will only use a plain colored fabric.

I made a square pattern from some green paper that was left at my new house when I bought it. Any paper would do, to make it square, fold it into a triangle. (It just happened to be 12"!)


Pin on the paper pattern to your fabric and cut out. I am using worn flannel since that is about the texture and thinness of the old hankies I inherited.


I then surged around the edge. You could zigzag around or hem it on a regular machine.


And that's all there is to it! I took an old pajama pant leg and a worn flannel shirt. I got 3 tissues from the pant leg and 5 tissues from the shirt. Find a nice tin box or some other container and fill it with reusable hankies.


The same pattern will be used when I get around to making my cloth napkins.

5 comments:

Cat J B said...

Hey, I do this too! Soft flannel is sooo much nicer for noses. Mind if I link you on my new frugal type blog?

Melissa Jagears said...

Cat J B,

Not a problem as long as the permission is mutual :)

Cat J B said...

Yes, any time! Thanks.

Wench said...

What material do you use for napkins and dish cloths?

Melissa Jagears said...

Napkins, I cut up a linen tablecloth.

Dish cloths, I knit from cotton yarn.