Family Cloth? What's That?

During my sewing day yesterday, I made some of the cutest family cloth, EVER. :)) We have been using family cloth part time for about 2 years. I found out about it after I had been cloth diapering for a couple years, so it wasn't as big of an "ew" factor as I think some others may feel. Family cloth (in case you haven't caught on by now, and in case you haven't read this blog post before) is cloth wipes for the family to use. Besides taking a load off my budget, they take a load off the earth, too. Toilet paper requires cutting down trees, pollution during the processing of them and transportation of them, plastic wrap... - those are just off the top of my head, but I'm sure I could find many more things if I explored it a bit deeper.

There are as many different ways to care for them as there are for cloth diapers. I used to keep them separate and wash them with the cloth diapers, but now, I wash everything together (I use skin-safe cleaners, so I include my cloth towels -- no more paper towels around here, either). It works perfect for our family. A load of laundry roughly every other day. We aren't as germaphobic as some might be, but I do use some vinegar and a few drops of tea tree essential oil when it strikes my fancy.

The only barrier we have found to using cloth wipes exclusively is habit. I am not very good at keeping up on the laundry, so we have been using the wipes when we have them, and paper when we run out (which I buy with the intention of being for guests). So, I decided to remedy that by making a lifetime supply and making them beautiful, so we will WANT to use them and care for them :) I even wrapped them up for each of us like a gift of sustainable deliciousness with "scrap fabric" ribbons :))

I make mine with flannel on one side and terry cloth (towel) on the other -- for those times when we need a bit more texture to feel clean ;) ...speaking of, and I hope this isn't TMI for you, but I get them wet before I use them and feel cleaner than dry paper could ever do for me (did you ever see that commercial where they wipe food off plates with a paper towel? Maybe I am starting to see where the roots of this obsession with "down there" being so dirty comes from...?).


Isn't that purple delicious? I made these for me...

These are for Noble -- aren't those frogs the cutest EVER?! Okay, I'm partial to frogs, and orange :)

These are for Kass - tie dye and peace signs? Perfect for the hippy in us.
And the terry cloth is natural, not white, as they look in this pic

These are for Najaia (and a few large ones, not pictured) -- once again, "natural", not white :)

These were too cute to not make -- made from scraps from some cloth diapers I made for Jai, so not flannel but cotton knit cheetah print with that luscious purple...

Could I wipe my bum with them? Why not -- my bum deserves to be pampered, too ;)