Customer Tip: T-Shirt Tissues
After reading our blog post on T-shirt waste, one of our customers sent in a great tip for making use of your old shirts: create T-shirt tissues and baby wipes!
When her kids were infants, she cut T-shirts into squares and used those (along with regular baby wipes) for diaper changes. Now that the kids are older, they use T-shirt rags for runny noses and anything else you might use a tissue for.
Sure, everyone could carry around a handkerchief. But having T-shirt squares placed strategically around the house can be easier—and a little less gross—especially for kids, who have lots of runny noses and no chance keeping track of a handkerchief!
To make the process quick and easy, use a rotary cutter to cut off the hems and sleeves of the T-shirts, then cut the remaining fabric into squares. If you have a sewing machine, you can hem or zig-zag-stitch the edges to prevent fraying or make the tissues double-ply. But if the edges fray a bit, that's okay too!
Any soft cotton fabric will work well if you don't have unwanted T-shirts. Flannel is a great option and will also make good washable "paper towels."
We love this tip because it combines convenience and sustainability and blurs the line between "single-use" and "reusable." We all recognize the benefits of single-use tissues and wipes, and these little cloths that you can use once . . . then wash and reuse once more . . . then wash and reuse many more times . . . can give us the best of both worlds.
-Justine (+ a genius customer)
