Saturday, October 16, 2010

Turning T-Shirts into Tissues

I get sick alot.  Almost every time the weather changes.  And I have a good bit of allergies related to airborne things like pollen dust dander etc.  So I go through alooooot of tissues.  My trashcans are always filled to the brim with tissues.  It hurts me to look at it and realize how much paper tissue I go through!  It's slightly disgusting and makes me feel guilty because I like to conserve!

Also, my mother recently dropped off a big bag of "crafts."  When I finally went into the bag and pulled things out, the majority of the "crafts" were leftover t-shirts from a 2006 Vacation Bible School.  I had NO idea what to do with these, but I couldn't bring myself to throw them away.  So I used this opportunity to resolve two problems with one great idea!  T-Shirt Tissues!


So here's what I did, what I used, and how I did it:  DIY for life!

First I cut the Tshirts.  One cut right down the middle, then I fold the bottom hem up to the underarm of the sleeve, then cut those into squares.  Cut the neck off under the tag and cut those into squares.  Then cut all the seams off the sleeves and cut those squares for smaller tissues.  (These are Youth-Large size)

Here's how to fold your tissues
Place down #1:

Place #2 overlapping #1 halfway:

Fold #1 in half:

Place #3 where #1 was:

And fold #2 in half:

Continue placing and folding over & over until you have the size stack you need:

For my tissue box, I originally planned to use an old cardboard Puffs box, but I cut my squares too big so I had to improvise.  I found a basket and cut a hole in the plastic lining (where it said Made In China), like so: 

My finished product!  Yay!

My theory is that once these have been washed and washed and washed over the years, they will just get softer and softer and softer!  I look forward to never feeling guilty about my paper waste again!  I ended up making so many that I have 3 tissue boxes full!  As I use them I am tossing them in the laundry basket instead of the trash can, and I feel great about it!

For me, this is the best of both worlds.  I like to think of them as Disposable-Reusable  or  Momentarily Disposable.  Americans do love their disposables - hey, it's part of our lifestyle.  

2 comments:

  1. I love this. Creative, fun, useful! Good job!

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  2. I've switched totally to cloth napkins, throw them in the laundry as well, don't know why I didn't do this years ago. T-shirt tissues may be the next step for me!!

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