Recycling old face flannels or towels

whitesatin

I keep lots of rolled up flannels in the bathroom for people to use as individual towels when washing their hands - saw the idea in a nice restaurant.

Anyway, the white ones are all showing signs of ageing and I was looking for ideas to use them up. I saw an idea in Granny Chic book to bind the edges with pretty bias tape and keep them in the kitchen or utility room as daily kitchen clothes. Or, you could cut up old towels, of which I have many.

So, I am going to make some for myself and my daughter as I can never find cloths when I go there and want to help with the washing up.

I get a bit confused about which bias tape to use, single fold or double fold or whatever. I want the pretty edging to show so I think the double fold would be best. Any suggestions would be helpful, e.g. what width of tape to buy. Ideally, I would like to just sandwhich the flannel between the two sides of tape and stitch rather than have to stitch twice. Is this realistic?

GreyQueen

Hi.

I've edged flannels and towels many a time and I wouldn't recommend bias tape as it's rather fragile for such rough uses and I find it frays. The chief virtue of bias tape is that it's cut on the diagonal and thus can stretch out around curves, which isn't really something you'd need on washcloths, as they'd probably be square or rectangular.

What I use for this purpose is woven cotton tape, minimum 1 inch wide, more like 1.25/1.5 if binding thicker things like a towel. You can buy such things in haberdashery departments but you may also luck onto them at bootfairs from time to time. It's the sort of thing I like to have in the sewing cupboard for those usages.

Good luck.

pennypusher

How about dyeing the flannels and towels. They should come out really well!

whitesatin

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hi.

I've edged flannels and towels many a time and I wouldn't recommend bias tape as it's rather fragile for such rough uses and I find it frays. The chief virtue of bias tape is that it's cut on the diagonal and thus can stretch out around curves, which isn't really something you'd need on washcloths, as they'd probably be square or rectangular.

What I use for this purpose is woven cotton tape, minimum 1 inch wide, more like 1.25/1.5 if binding thicker things like a towel. You can buy such things in haberdashery departments but you may also luck onto them at bootfairs from time to time. It's the sort of thing I like to have in the sewing cupboard for those usages.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply and advice. I can see what you mean about using woven cotton tape and that could just be placed over to sandwich the flannel etc. I wonder if you can get floral tape or maybe different coloured tape.

whitesatin

pennypusher wrote: »

How about dyeing the flannels and towels. They should come out really well!

That's a good idea, give a bit of a lift to the manky looking grey they have become. I could probably put them all in the washing machine to dye a uniform colour then match the tape accordingly. Technically they wouldn't really need tape as flannels are finished off already but I just wanted to jazz them up a bit and make them look less like old face flannels.

Valli

Old towels? I just chop 'em up, use them as cleaning cloths and chuck 'em out when they are really holey.
I use them for the floor, for wiping the loo (and the loo cloth is for the loo solely) and washing the litter tray and wiping the washing line. Basically anywhere I need a 'rag' rather than a nice clean dishcloth;) When they've been used I fling them in the WM or leave them outside (because they're damp) but wash them on a hot wash with the towels.

Ebe_Scrooge

Old flannels are brilliant for cleaning squished insects off the car. They seem to be just the right "consistency", for want of a better word - just rough enough to "scour" the insects off, without damaging the paintwork. And no need for chemicals, just ordinary soapy water - which according to your viewpoint is good for your wallet / your paintwork / the environment.

lostinrates

We too have rolled face clothes in a basket in the bathroom, but they are for faces, we each use a clean one each day.

If we were to everyone were to use a clean one to wash our hands every time we went to the loo I cannot imagine the washing it would create!


If they are white then the commercial whiteners work really quite well. I have only tried them in the last year and been really rather impressed.

But, now you are at the stage of recyling them, I wouldn't bind them to use as cleaning cloths.......we wash these at high temps and I'm afraid my cleaning clothes include some of a very colour. The main problem I find with face clothes I have set aside to be rags or cleaning clothes is that others in the household cannot necessarily identify these, so......

I put them through the wash with a yellow duster (I hate those things) so they come out that depressing nicotine colour and then its clear at least they are now cleaning cloths

Eenymeeny

I put them through the wash with a yellow duster (I hate those things) so they come out that depressing nicotine colour and then its clear at least they are now cleaning cloths
Great idea! At last a use for those horrible things. I hate them too, why yellow runny dye when they are an item that should be washed regularly? I had banished them but there may be some lurkers at the bottom of my rag box.... Thanks for the idea

23rdspiral

for old towels that are well past their prime, i cut them using 'pinking sheers' (eg, so they get a wavy edge), they then dont fray and are used as cloths for wiping surfaces and anything else that needs a scrub or polish.

bargainbetty

I have towels that started as white, went blue, and are now black, and those that started white and went purple - I dye them all the time. Just remember to use fixing salt, or the colours do not come out as well.

The really knackered towels will now be cut down and hemmed this weekend - excellent thread!