Reusable Un-Paper Towels Tutorial

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!  Learn how to recycle an old towel into reusable un-paper towels that can be used instead of paper towels.  These un-paper towels can be used to wipe up spills or dry hands just like normal paper towels. 

This saves you money by saving your paper towels for jobs only they can do.  After using your un-paper towels, throw them in the washer and even bleach them!   Since these un-paper towels are made from an old towel, it will be fine if it fades.

Are you looking for other recycled project ideas for Earth day?  Click the link to find many other ideas.

INSTRUCTIONS for Un-Paper towels

Our video tutorial includes instructions on adding snaps to the corners of the reusable un-paper towels.  This makes it easier to roll them onto a paper towel roll.

STEP 1: Size of the Un-paper towels

To start the project, we want to make the best use of our old towel.  Measure the towel and calculate the size of the paper towels to be created.

We usually use bounty half-size paper towels on a roll, which are 6" by 11".  The whole paper towels are around 12" x 11".  Our un-paper towels can be anywhere between 6" - 12" long.  So they would fit on a paper towel holder, make them the standard 11" tall or maybe a bit shorter.

My towel is 28" wide.  To best use the whole towel, I cut my un-paper towels 7" wide.  The length of my towel is 61" so I picked to make my towels to be 10" high.  This way, I would only waste 1" of the towel.

So, my towels will each be 10" x 7" which is a perfect size for an un-paper towel.  These towels will be more absorbent than normal paper towels so they don't need to be as large.

STEP 2: CUT the Towel

If you have a rotary cutter, mat and ruler use these to cut your towel into the size you selected.  I started by cutting the height of the towels, 10".  Then I cut each strip into the 7" wide towels.

If you have scissors, use a pencil to make a mark with a ruler on your cutting lines.  Then cut the towel apart on the lines with the scissor.

When cutting the towel, leave the edges intact since these edges are nicely finished.  There is no need to cut them off and it will save time when finishing the towel edges.

When finished, you will have a stack of towels as shown below.

Step 3: Finish the edges

There are several options for finishing the edges of your towels.  I used a bright thread so it would stand out.  A matching color thread can also be used.

If you have a serger, this is a perfect project to use it on.  Use your serger to finish the cut edges of the towels.  A serger is a machine that will trim, sew and finish the edges all at once.  The serger towel is shown with the label "overlock" below.  Check out our tutorial on How to Serge Corners and Secure Seams for Information on how to sew around the towels.

When using a regular sewing machine, a zig-zag or overlock stick can be used.  The overlock stitch is made to simulate the stitch a serger machine would use to finish the edge.

If your machine does not have an overlock stitch, don't worry, a zig-zag stitch will work perfectly for this project.

Sew around all of the unfinished edges of your un-paper towel sections.  You will have finished edge towels that look like the photo below.

Step 4: Optional - Add Kam Snaps

The towels you have will work perfectly.  Just put them in a basket on your kitchen counter and use them as needed.  Keep a second basket to put the used towels in until you are ready to wash them.

If you would prefer to put them onto a paper towel roll, then add Kam Snaps to the corners.  If you have never installed Kam Snaps, click the link to visit our page with a tutorial on installing kam snaps.

Did you install Kam Snaps incorrectly and need to remove them?  Click to see our tutorial on How to Remove Kam Snaps.

Install the Kam Snaps with matching types on each long side.  One side they should face up and the other side should face down.  Look in the photo below to see how the snaps are placed.

By placing the snaps in this way, it makes it easy to snap the towels together.  After adding the snaps, wash and then snap the towels together.  Roll them onto a paper towel roll and put them in your paper towel holder.

The reusable un-paper towels are complete and ready to be used in place of paper towels.  Place them in a convenient place in your kitchen so they are easy to grab and use.

We hope you enjoyed this project and make some un-paper towels for your family.  Look below for other un-paper towel tutorials and supplies you may need for this project.

If you do not want to make your own un-paper towels, we have included some options to purchase them below through our affiliate links.

Some other Un-Paper towel tutorials with different options are:

• DIY Danielle makes some out of birdseye fabric and cotton.
• Thrifty Nifty Mommy makes some out of flannel and terry cloth
• Happiest Camper makes un-paper towels out of terry cloth fabric.