Friday, May 27, 2011

Taking care of those runny noses!

 We seem to be having some Spring allergy problems or maybe some colds bothering us a bit around here. It isn't bad but we have had some need to wipe our noses. I have been trying to use less and less of things that just get thrown away (like tissues) and have been trying to convert over to handkerchiefs more and more. The kids have started using them fairly well but we were having a hard time having enough ready and clean all the time so then we would resort to throwaway tissues.

 I decided to try to remedy that problem. Today I found a pair of old flannel pajama pants that we had around here. I had already cut a little off them to use for another project last winter but I decided to turn the rest of the pair into handkerchiefs. I was able to cut 10 handkerchiefs from the pair, mostly around 8 inch square. We do not like huge handkerchiefs as they are to big for our pockets and who really needs that much blowing space (or if you have used part of it do you really want to continue to use it until it is all used up?!).

I quickly and easily hemmed them on my machine and now they are ready for use.
The boys kindly "Modeled" them for me. Sorry the picture is bad but I found it humorous so I decided to include it anyway.
Now hopefully we won't run out of handkerchiefs so fast- and if we still do I'll just sew up some more. We have other absorbent fabrics that would work and they are very fast to make. We keep them in one of our handmade baskets in a easy to find spot next to the phone.

  I know some (maybe many) people find handkerchiefs gross but I guess I don't see it that way and I would prefer not to spend a lot of money on something that just goes to the dump. (Though I did recently read that you can compost Kleenex- so if you do use it please at least compost them!)

 That is something I have been fixing up this week. What have you been working on?




4 comments:

Rachel said...

I too dislike going through so many tissues. I have many baby washcloths left from when my children were babies and these seem to be the perfect size for my kids to use for dabbing at runny noses (from allergies/pollen etc).
They are also quite soft.

Nola said...

I don't think its gross at all. I used to think that though. Maybe something happens after you have kids things just aren't that gross anymore. I used to think the same thing about mama cloth but now I love it. My oldest always uses baby wash cloths for runny noses anyways- they're softer! I've been meaning to make some like you have as well but never have.

Jackie said...

That is a great idea. We haven't made the switch yet. I have some flannel scraps, though. Thanks for sharing and linking up!

Mrs. Trissy said...

I have done the same thing. Not only are they cute, but way softer on the nose.

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