Homemade Cloth Wipes!

A friend gave me a recipe for homemade wipes using select a size paper towels. We used it at first and it worked well. The only unpleasant thing about it was cutting the roll of paper towels in half. (My sweet hubby did that for me! Otherwise it would not have happened.) However, as I got the hang of using cloth diapers and decided that I would definitely be using cloth all the time, I could see how it would be simpler and even less wasteful to just use cloth wipes as well.

I soon found out that you could make cloth wipes from flannel receiving blankets. We had been given quite a few of those, so I decided to try it. I read that you just had to cut squares, put them back to back, and zigzag stitch around the sides, that they would fray at the edges, but that they were for bum wiping for goodness sake!

Well, I guess that's where the choosy comes in. I didn't what them fraying at the edges. So, I sewed them front to front like little pillows, turned them right side out, and then did the zigzag around the edges. I didn't aim for perfection. They're all different sizes. I eye-balled the square cutting. The zigzag lines around the edges took a few detours, but they look great...from a distance anyway! They are, after all, only for bum wiping!

How to make cloth wipes:

1. Sew 2 squares together with the soft fuzzy sides facing each other, stopping before going all the way around so you have room to turn it back inside out. (Sorry I don't know "sew-ese." I guess these are "layman's terms."

2. Turn it inside out and use a pen or something pointy to get the corners completely turned. You can see the little opening I mentioned in step 1.

3.Fold the little opening in as evenly as possible. (When I started doing the zigzag stitch all the way around I started here to secure it in place.)


4. Put sewing machine on zigzag mode and try to follow the edges all the way around. (Of course I tried to be neater with this one since I was taking pictures! :)


5. Done!



It took a long time to finish them between feedings and all the many things a new mommy has to do, but eventually I had a nice size stash of wipes and some good practice sewing that straight line without having to worry about ruining something nice. The best part? They were free!

I keep a hand full at a time of them in a Sterilite container that seals shut. The solution I use is simple and cheap, of course. Here it is:

1.5 cups of boiling water
1Tbs Baby Oil
1Tbs Baby Soap (Such as Johnson & Johnson's Head to Toe)

Pour over wipes and that's it. Let them cool down before using of course!

Truly Easy Homemade Bread

*Update as of July, 2012: This is still a delicious and easy recipe, but I have left it in the dust for a no fail, WHOLE wheat, soaked recipe from Trina Holden's Real {Fast} Food. There's no turning back! ;)*


Some time after the dawning of the salad dressing idea and making pizza from scratch, we seemed to keep running out of bread and having to make a special trip to the grocery store just for that. Once you have a baby you don't just "run out to get something" unless absolutely necessary. SO, I looked on line for bread recipes. I'd tried it before, trying to emulate the informal recipe of the dear missionaries in Peru that I spent a few summers with, but found it hard to make and there were too many ingredients to the recipe I had for it to be a simple, cheap thing.

Well, boy did I find an EASY recipe that WORKS every time! We haven't bought a loaf of bread since. Here's the link! You should try it, but warning: It's so tasty you just might try again!

I've since tried to start using whole wheat, and it turned out great...the 3rd time! I used double the yeast, started with the first two cups using whole wheat, and added about 3/4 to 1 cup white flour during kneading. It came out soft and tasty!

Scratch bread off my grocery list! There's more. Just wait!

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