There is an old set of pink Sears towels from some decade gone by (70s, maybe 80s) that I’ve been toting around for the past few years. My mom picked them up for me at a second-hand store or yard sale, as she tends to do, because she thought I’d like them. She was right. I’ve been waiting for the right project to do something with them. I’d love to turn them into pillows, actually.
As it turns out, the crafty people of the world (of which I am not one), have come up with many clever ideas to upcycle your old towels. Here are a few I think are clever and useful. So get your towel craft on this weekend, if you’re in the mood and you’ve got some spare towels you want to destroy.
Above: a bath mat made out of strips of old towels (via finecraftguild.com), and a bolster pillow from a retro towel (via apartment therapy)
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Bath Mat: old towels are cut into stripped and tied onto gridded matting
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Braided Rug: turn a trio of towel colours into this clever creation
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Pillow: the bolster above is a cute idea, but you could easily use an entire towel to pull together a quick envelope pillow in a few zips of the sewing machine
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Ironing Board Cover: if the padding on your ironing board is wearing thin, a towel is a great pinch hitter
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Wash Cloths: trim down your old towels and use a serger or zigzag stitch on the sewing machine to finish the edges
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Swiffer Covers: this tutorial shows how to turn your old towel into a eco Swiffer replacement
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Cleaning Cloths: if all else fails, tear up your old towels and use them for cleaning cloths
Jessica McLaughlin is a freelance writer by night in Toronto who spends her days as a web manager. You can find her at homeware.tumblr.com where she blogs about kitchen and dinnerware.
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