What Are Unpaper Towels? 

What are unpaper towels?

First things first, what are unpaper towels? They’re essentially the reusable answer to disposable paper towels. Unpaper towels are made from durable and absorbent fabric so they can be used to clear up any mess, then they can be washed, and used, again and again – but what we love most of all is that they’re fun, vibrant and can be colour-coordinated with your kettle if you wish (we highly recommend this).

Photo credits: Altered State Studio

Where to buy unpaper towels from

The main idea with unpaper towels is that you keep them forever (or at least until you need to recycle or upcycle them into something else!). Because of this, it’s important to buy wisely – here are a few of our top finds to brighten up your kitchen and help save the planet when clearing up spills:

• We love this colourful and artfully mismatching set from Etsy – their bold and graphic prints will add a bit of fun to your countertops
• You’re in serious danger of looking forward to clearing up with these guys
• Be loud and proud in your kitchen with these rainbow unpaper towels from Marley’s Monsters
• Worried loud prints and colours might cramp your minimalist style? These plain white unpaper towels from The Eco Shop might be the ones for you  

How to make your own unpaper towels 

We love a bit of a DIY-sustainability-hack here and making your own unpaper towels at home is quick, easy and a great way to give a second life to any old textiles. If you’re not the neatest sewer, don’t panic, these are just for mopping up spilt tea and cooking messes so they probably don’t need to be catwalk-ready – although we do love sustainable fashion too. Have a read of this post about our favourite vegan leather jackets for shopping inspiration  

Gather as much spare fabric as you can, these can be anything from old clothes to bedding and even bath towels that aren’t suitable for donation. For 13 unpaper towels (a baker’s dozen considering we’re in the kitchen), Sew In A Straight Line recommends around four yards of fabric, which is just over three and a half metres. 

• Cut your fabric into 26 rectangles of 12 inches by 13 and sew them together in pairs, making them two-ply – this is where you can let your creative juices flow with pattern combinations and decorative stitching 
• Once you’re done sewing you can end there, or even add poppers to each end, so your unpaper towels can be rolled up then easily unravelled to take care of any spills and messes as and when they occur