Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Winter Pinterest Challenge- Reveal

Last Wednesday, some of my favorite blogging ladies, Sherry at Young House LoveKatie at Bower PowerErin from The Great Indoors, and Cassie from Hi Sugarplum threw down a Pinterest Challenge. I was searching through my Pinterest board "Things to do" and I came across these "Un-paper towels" I found on Cottontail Babies  a while back. I LOVE being green and using reusable materials so I jumped on this idea!

First step was finding a flannel fabric that didn't have a cartoon character on it! I am not sure why this was so difficult, but it was by far the lengthiest part of this project. I finally found a pattern that I love and that matches my decor at Joann's in the "Quilting Flannel" section.



I love the color and the pattern is subtle but feminine. For the back, I chose a plain white terry cloth.



I followed the tutorial above, but I will outline the steps anyway :) I cut my flannel and terry cloth into a 12 inch square. I laid them right sides together (there is really only a "right side" on the flannel)



And pinned it all the way around.



Then I sewed around the square, pivoting at the corners.



I left about 2 inches open and flipped it right-side-out. I pinned the opening and topstitched the whole way around, pivoting at the corners again.



Trim your strings and tada- Un-paper towel! In the tutorial, she mentions putting snaps on the corners so you can wrap them up on a roll, like paper towels, but I couldn't find the right kind. I will keep looking and maybe add them if I want to. I bought 2 yards of each fabric, and I should be able to get 18 out of that total. I have only made 3, but I will keep working on them as I have some more time.





The tutorial I used stressed the importance of cutting and sewing a straight line. I cut and sewed mostly straight lines, but I am a novice sewer, so they aren't perfect. BUT that imperfection is my favorite part of everything I make. I made it, so it isn't perfect, and you can tell that. I don't plan to sell anything I make, so it's imperfections are what make it great. So don't be intimidated if you aren't a great sewer. This was a very easy project and GREAT for a novice sewer like myself.

So there ya go! My most successful Pinterest challenge yet!

What did you make? Link up below so I can see! :)



10 comments:

  1. I really like this idea. I've done up a few napkins already, but flannel and terry cloth make sense for "paper" towels.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job! I am going to try this with some of my fabric stash for the pretty side and fabric from cut-up old t-shirts for the other side. These would also be a great shower gift, new house gift, hostess gift, etc! Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow - I like this idea a lot. I hate how many paper towels we go through. I should really try this. Although I don't have a sewing machine... And I doubt I can sew in a straight line. I still think it could work. Your napkins look great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are pretty cool, and so simple! They seem like they would be perfect for wiping little faces while out and about. I might have to make a bunch to throw in my diaper bag. By the way, yours turned out really well -- I know what you mean about imperfections, and the best way to deal with them is to embrace them. I like to call my stuff "folk art" for that very reason :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Found you through the challenge and I absolutely LOVE this idea! I'll have to try this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great idea! Another thing to add to the to-do list!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Neat idea! I've been thinking about how many paper products we use around the house, and this could definitely help. Thanks for linking up with the Winter Pinterest Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's my motto, imperfections make it perfectly perfect...I have been hesitant to make bc well, I don't actually really care about using snaps...Thank you for this..Now I'll will make some and not worry about snaps..

    ReplyDelete