Instead of tossing the worn out dish towel, I fold it in fourths making a small place mat size rectangle. I stitch the edges with my sewing machine (or you can serge the edges) to keep it together.
Then, I cut two pieces of denim, from worn out jeans, to fit over and sew this over the old worn out dish towel. After it is stitched together, I will top stitch it to be sure that the dish towel is attached securely to the denim, and do a few quilt ties.
We use these all the time, at lunch time for hot bowls of soup as well as large size hot pads. They work out perfect and don't cost anything extra, other than my time.
With making sure all the dish towel is sewn to the denim, I never have problems tossing them in the wash.
If you want a pretty fabric on top, I just cover the denim with the cotton fabric of choice, doing the top stitching at this point. This way you can have some that match your kitchen decor. The other day I made a few from an old corduroy skirt. Very pretty.
RE: Recycle Dish Towels and Jeans to Make Hot Pads
By can't throw it away (Guest Post)
I just had the idea to use wool socks that have holes in the heel as a filler for hot pads. The outside could be old jeans or whatever. Wool would be good by itself, too, since it is flame retardant.
RE: Recycle Dish Towels and Jeans to Make Hot Pads
By ANNA DEAN-WARD (Guest Post)
Do you have any patterns for a kitchen towel that has a profile of a person with a bonnet attached to the head. it is made out of material and sewed onto the towel. This is just one, but if you know of the patterns or a book, can you let me know.
RE: Recycle Dish Towels and Jeans to Make Hot Pads
By cookiepom (Guest Post)
I have found that old cotton dish towels make great napkins. I had some checked towels that I cut into the size napkins I wanted and then I simply turned the raw edges under and "whip stiched" the edges all around. I even dressed them up a bit by adding old buttons on the corners just for fun. They turned out really cute in my "country" kitchen. I keep them in a little basket on the kitchen table and I have not bought paper napkins in months! I have also started to do the same w/an old tatterd table cloth. I just keep the "project" by my bed and work on it as I watch T.V. at night. I could sew these up quicker I suppose on my machine, but it gives me something to do while I watch T.V. besides EAT!!!!!!
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