Many of my smaller towels have edges that are frayed and old. What should I do with them? They are still useful, but not pretty.
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I'd cut the towels down and hem them for hand towels or washcloths. I prefer using cloth cleaning rags to paper towels. They also work as pot holders, and cushioning for delicate wood working projects in process.
My second lives for towels include going to the car for sitting on, on hot days and mopping up spills in the car, handing by the door for easy access for drying wet dog paws and belly, or I sew them up the sides (leave top open) and use for ice packs and hot water bottle covers.
The third life is cleaning up dog accidents, and other extra icky messes.
After that if there are any thread left, they go out in the spring for bird nesting materials.
I second everything said here; that's where I get both my rags, washcloths, and kitchen drying towels.
You might also use them, especially if they have an interesting pattern, as pillows by sewing them together and adding stuffing.
Cut them up into squares and make quilts.
Same here, I'll cut and sew worn out towels into smaller pieces for rags, and hand towels or wash cloths too, I'll sew with the sewing machine all around the edges so the frayed ends don't end up shedding in the washer or dryer.
I've never tried this particular thing I'm going to mention, but having looked at some of mine too, when the edge (s) are frayed, I have "thought about" sewing either bias tape or some kind of lace around the edges, which would bring them back to a new life, or make them look newer anyways, since they're really *the towel part inside* is still in great shape, as some only have one of the sides that might be frayed, or even just an edge.
I use old towels for washing windows, our cars, as doggie drying towels to wipe off rain after going outdoors to potty and after their baths, for shop rags when husband has to work with a messy task, and I've used them for wiping off wood stain when I refinish furniture or to put wet/soiled shoes on when coming indoors. I also apply wax on car with old towels. Towels can also be donated to a local animal shelter, dog grooming business, and if you have a crafty talent, you could use towels to make stuffed pet toys with squeakers or a stuffy cloth ball for child or pet.
Buy seam or blanket binding, or better still, make your own from fabric scraps. Trim the frayed edges of your towels and sew on the binding.
All very good suggestions..
I usually have 3 bags/containers of "rags".
I use #1 for cleaning, dusting easy thing so "rag" can be washed and reused.
#2 is for the next step of cleaning; spills that may stain but rags still washable for reuse.
#3 is for dirty things that are just too "much" and need to be thrown away.
I also throw mismatched socks in these bags and so I always have an appropriate rag ready to be used.
I agree with all the other answers and I also use one to cover a cat basket if I had to take her to the vet and it was cold and windy. I just made a hole in the middle of the towel to accommodate the basket handle and it covered the sides beautifully.
When bath towels get frayed around the edges, I cut them into four or six pieces. Then I go through my fabric stash and make bias binding, using matching or coordinating colors.
Recently, my kitchen hand towels were getting worn out, so I cut some bias binding out of blue mattress ticking and sewed it around the edges of four pieces of white towels. I like to keep towels separate in the kitchen--some for dishes and some for hands. Luckily I use red in my kitchen, too, because when I bleached these towels, the blue ticking turned red.
If I cut the towel in 6 pieces, I do the same thing and make washcloths. I've always been a scrapsaver, and this is a good way to use them up.
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