Saving money with cloth wipes

I finally finished up a batch of cloth wipes last night! They are so simple to do, but these have been a work in progress!

I confess, I've gotten a little lazy about using them- my water bottles are always empty, etc...

My plan today is to whip up a cup of wipes solution to try out:

1 cup water, 1 tbsp baby wash and 1 tbsp baby oil.

I found this one here though I'm modifying the process. There are tons of other recipes online for it, with essential oils added for smell and to make it last longer, but I have all these ingredients here and am wanting to try something new!  So when I'm done wasting time online, I am going to mosey over and make one up and USE THEM today! :) 

Just a note:  Even if you don't cloth diaper, you can still save money with cloth wipes but using them for sticky fingers and other cleanups!  Even when you are out of the house- with wipes, all you'd need is a small ziplock bag to tuck them in when you've used them; then just throw them in with your whites or dishtowels at home.

They fit perfectly into any wipes container. These are 8x8-ish wipes folded in half. To use when out and about, I fill a little travel size (hairspray type) sprayer with water and stash it in my bag too.  And a wetbag (or small ziplock or grocery bag if all you are using is cloth wipes).

If you'd like to sew your own, look below.  There are so simple- if you can cut and sew straight lines you can do it!

If not, I would be happy to sew you up a set! Check out the cloth wipes Note on my facebook page.

To sew your own:

1. Cut your fabric: you can buy new flannel or terry (or anything 100% cotton), but I like to use up lightly used recieving blankets, tee-shirts, or towels.  I have a set that's one side flannel, and the other tee-shirt material.  I hear towels make great ones that clean really well, but haven't tried them yet personally.

I cut mine 8 inches by 8 inches (or 4 inches by 8 inches if you like the smaller size). Cut twice as many squares as you would like to have wipes (If you want 10 wipes, you need 20 squares).

2. Pin 2 squares (or rectangles) right sides together and sew around the outsides, leaving about 4 inches unsewn to turn them. Alternately, you can skip the pinning and keep them straight as you are sewing, if you prefer- for best results, I'd pin, but sometimes I get lazy...

3. Clip your corners off, without cutting into your sewing to reduce bulk at the corners.

4. Turn the right side out, pulling the fabric through the 4 inch hole you left. Use a chopstick or some similar item to push your corners out as square as you can. 

5. Pin the hole shut, following the rest of your seam. Topstitch around the edge of the wipe, sealing that hole closed and finishing off your wipe; i try to stay about 1/8 of an inch from the edge.

And that's it!  Sorry I don't have any pictures of the process; maybe i'll add them when I make up more! If you have any questions or I missed something, let me know! There are also good tutorials online.

This one has several different ways to sew them that might be easier, but alas, no pictures either. Very simple directions though.