This is part 4 of our series on How to save on paper towels.
Read Part 1 – How to save on paper towels
Read Part 2 – Where do I get rags?
Read Part 3 – How to cut up rags
Here are some tips to make use of worn out clothing items before they’re ready to be used as cleaning rags:
- When a shirt is no longer wearable: I take a woman’s or child’s large T shirt and cut off the sleeves (saving those for rags of course). Then I cut up the sides of the shirt. It makes a perfect giant bib for a toddler that covers everything and is so easy to slide on and off of his head. It even catches all the fun stuff that toddlers manage to get on their laps and chair seats. I would wash these and use them again and again.
- When I was young I loved rag socks. I would cut the tops off of them to use for tops or dresses for my Barbie doll. I would cut a slit in each side for the arms and sometimes I would turn the top edge down for a collar or add buttons, lace etc.
- Cut off the top of men’s underwear to use as large rubber band. I know this is weird, but there are times when I need things bundled together and need a large rubber band, so I use this. When I say I let nothing go to waste, I mean it. I might be a little discreet as to where I would use this because I am sure your husband doesn’t want the company to see his underwear size 48 waist band holding that bundle of newspapers laying by the fireplace. : )
- If you know how to crochet or sew, you can use many types of clothing to make quilts or rag rugs.You can use sections of worn clothing to make bibs, totes or small bags of all sorts.
- Even the smallest piece of fabric can be used to make buttons. Go to a fabric store and buy one of the kits to make your own buttons. Then you can the find a pretty flowers or pieces of embroidery on worn clothing and make them into buttons.
- Use old clothing for patches. I would always sew a "jean" patch which stretched from seam to seam on the inside of the knee of my children’s new jeans. You couldn’t see it was there, but it helped reinforce the knee so the kids wouldn’t get holes there as easily.
Jill
photo by: Tie Guy
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a kit to make your own buttons. I will have to check that out. Sounds great.
When you have little ones crawling sew a patch of a quilted piece inside the knees of their rompers, cover alls.
saves bruises on the knees. and saves the coveralls the same way it saves the jeans of older children.
save your knees by making a pad from old tee shirts or towels. Use the underwear elastic sewed around it and put these on when you scrub the floor or do gardening work.
I love the idea of reinforcing the knees in pants. I have a two yr old and that would work great and for my 8 yr old who always has holes in his pants.
I have heard of keeping the elastic out of underwear that have holes in them, and then if you have pants or a skirt that has an elastic waste band that has gone out, you will have extra on hand to fix it.
oh that’s a great idea. I used to knit my own gloves before.. I don’t know if I still have the skills though… Well, you can always use coupons right?
After last winter, my son still fit into his pants and shirts except the legs and arms were too short. For the pants which were pretty worn (almost all his clothes are used by his older cousin) I simply made cut off jeans to play in. I cut off the sleeves of the long sleeved t-shirts and made tank tops or short sleeves. We didn’t have to pay for a new wardrobe and he is still wearing those play clothes at the end of summer!
I also cut up old towels to make my cloth toilet paper. I wash them like cloth diapers and we save a ton on TP!
My husband is no longer in need of his mechanic uniforms. The items are 65% polyester and 35% cotton. Any suggestions on what I could use these rags for? I don’t want to just throw them out, but you said that the polyester isn’t very absorbent. So any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Jazmin good question. I’m not sure I have an answer to that but maybe some of our readers do. The only thing I can think of is you could cut it up into a quilt (using large squares and just tying it) for a picnic blanket. With the polyester in it it wouldn’t be totally water proof but would protect from dampness more then say are regular cotton quilt.
If there is any life left in them you could donate them to a school shop class.
My husband is a welder and he was thinking of donating his welding coveralls there until my son called and was complaining about the cost of new ones. So down they went to him.
That was 4 years ago and he is still using them.
I cut the tops off old socks and use for a quick bandage on arm or leg.
For old stuff that you don’t know what to do with, there are tons of ideas and tutorials on craftster.org
I give my daughter clothes with holes or stains. She makes doll clothes with them. Old clothes in good condition I take to a consignment shop (which is where I got them in the first place).
I cut up old towels and serge the edges for dish clothes. I use TearMender to glue patches my boys pants (I have 5 boys)the glue lasts a long time. I have a box I covered Martha Stewart style handy in my pantry, it’s my rag box, cut up T shirts, sweatshirts, etc. I cut up a worn out flannel night gown and made soft hankies-everyone appreciates them when they have a cold…I’ll shut up. LOVE your blog! and books.
When I had long hair, I use to cut off the elastic of old sweat pants and use them as rubberbands for my hair. I left the fabric on and they didn’t pull my hair like rubberbands did. I have a home child care and do that with my little girls in the summer, to keep them cooler.
I must have missed the topic on the bibs last time I read this. I have a disabled granddaughter who must have some sort of bib. I have been using hand towels, dish towels and just tucking them into her neckline, but now, when she finishes eating she pulls them off, indicating “I’m done now”, making a mess. I like the T-shirt idea and am definitely going to try that.
Marilyn– If you find that the t-shirts for bib idea doesn’t provide enough protection for soak-through for your granddaughter, you can make a bib *like* the t-shirt with your hand towels. If you have sewing skills, you can either recycle the t-shirt neck ribbing, or buy new make neck openings to pull-over the head. Cut off-center (along length; centered along width) circle large enough to go over the head and stretch the ribbing to fit the opening and stitch. The fingertip terry towel bibs my mom made me like this were my favorite.
Another use for women’s shirts – cut off the sleeves and the neck ribbing (cut inside the seam, to leave a raw edge on the shirt part), then sew the bottom up (I use something like a french seam, sew the outside, then turn inside out and sew another, then a zigzag)
Instant ‘green’ shopping bag. Or overnight bag. Or picking vegetables bag… that goes in the washer with the other laundry.
I have a chenille sweater that has some holes in it. Its previous owner was going to toss it, but I read somewhere about a lady who makes new knitted things from old. Does anyone know about this?
Dineen:
Thank you so much. Sounds like like a great idea
I am working on a project to make myself a new “feather bed” to go under my mattress pad for extra comfort. I recently bought several down filled winter jackets and coats from The Goodwill. I am going to cut off the arms, neck, buttons, etc. and piece them together like I would a patch work quilt. The quality of these coats is very high end, and the down is all soft feathers-better than ready made feather beds like Bed, Bath and Beyond carry. I got all the coats I needed for $8.50. I think I am going to love the savings from this project!!
Wow, lots of great ideas. I have to admit though, expensive or not–I am still going to buy toilet paper that flushes
My husband had alot of old white dress shirts with very soft material. They wouldn’t make very absorbant rags but I couldn’t just throw them away. I took pinking sheers and cut them into handkerchief sized squares and put them in an old kleenex box. Whenever I need a handkerchief I pull one out. With my alergies that means all the time. I wash them and put them back into the box and they have lasted me for years. Sometimes I leave them in my pants pockets when I wash. Not to worry. They just get washed with my pants and no lint to deal with like Kleenex. I buy about 1 box of Kleenex a year and only use it when I’m trying to impress someone or when a visitor asks for a tissue.
Just today I used a stained t-shirt to make a sling for my husband, who is nursing a shoulder injury and wanted to immobilize his arm.
I cut the t-shirt in half from top to bottom, then opened up the side, so that his ar could rest inside the sleeve and the sling could be tied in the back, behins his head.
Another project I took on with worn out clothing, that I am very proud of, is a large quilt. It was given as a gift at Christmastime a few years back. My son treasures it; it made the trip with him when he moved from Connecticut to New Mexico – so that he would be reminded of home. There’s a picture of it on photo bucket: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w297/ctmom05/th_quilt.jpg?t=1283657369
Good idea Chris. One idea for a young man’s (or girl’s) is to take their favor t shirts with special sayings on them or from their sports team that they have loved over the years and use them to make a quilt from. They have fusible stabilizer now which you can easily iron on to the back of the block to make the t shirts much easier to sew and work with.