Homemade - sewing my household linens

by admin October 19, 2021

I don't work nearly as hard as my mother or grandma, or, no doubt, their grandmothers. I'm fortunate to have appliances that make housework easier so because I know that and always have a fragment of it in my mind, I don't complain about housework. But I don't go overboard with appliances either. I don't have an air fryer or coffee machine or thermomix, I have a good fridge and freezer, both ten years old but energy efficient and still working well. I have an excellent self-cleaning oven, an induction cook top, a microwave, stick blender, hand beater, food processor, mini processor for processing nuts and small vegetables, stick vacuum cleaner, excellent washing machine and dryer. All these appliances are the best quality we could afford at the time, they were bought with cash, are energy efficient and they give me the extraordinary gift of time. Time to do what I want to do instead of house work.

Today, as well as my regular work, I made four more 'paper' towels by modifying two towels I made a while ago. I was using the big towels as tea towels but I have those very absorbent Ikea tea towels and I love them. So in a continued effort to cut back on paper towels, I'm using flannel towels instead. They're doing the job well and just need a hot wash in Di-San to remove grease spots. I do a batch of them at the end of the week - dish cloths, 'paper' towels, muslin straining cloths and usually a tea towel or two. They soak overnight and are ready the next morning to hang out to dry. Easy. Mostly though, the dishcloths and tea towels go in the regular wash along with the towels.

This week, premium flannelette 147 cm is six dollars a metre at Spotlight. That is what I used and it's working better than I thought it would. If you're not in Australia, just buy lightweight cotton flannel from your local fabric shop. If you decide to try this, just cut your cloths to the size you want and either hem them on the sewing machine or overlock them if you have an overlocker. As a guide, my cloths are 35cm x 35cm and the paper towels are 45cm x 35 cm.

Very early in my simple life I realised that sewing, mending, knitting and homemade gifts would play a big part in what I do in my home. I'd never been interested in crafts before, although my mother did try to teach me when I was at school. I didn't have the capacity to understand the significance of them then. Now I know that making these household linens helps the environment, gives me better quality and I save money. I am a slow learner sometimes.