Introduction: Reusable Baby Wipes From Recycled T-shirts

By
About: I love cooking and crafting, sometimes both at the same time... and that is when things get interesting (and messy)

Are you trying to be a little greener and reduce your waste, looking for a chemical free baby wipe for your little ones sensitive bottom, or just looking to save money? This is a very easy solution, with no sewing using materials you probably have in your house.

You will need:

Old cotton t-shirts
Empty baby wipe box
Scissors
Water

Optional:

Baby wash
Chamomile tea
Lavender Essential oil

Step 1: Cut Up the Shirts

Don't go crazy trying to make perfect cuts and neat edges, these are for wiping baby bottoms!

Start by trimming off all the seams, and any rough design elements.

Then roughly cut into rectangles, about as long as the wipe container and about twice as wide.

Once you have a wipe cut, use it as a template and go crazy, two or three adult t's can fill a regular wipe box.

After I have a stack of wipes cut I round the corners a little, I find they are less likely to roll in the wash if I do this.

(Keep the smaller scraps, they make fantastic baby hankies!)

Step 2: Fold & Stack

Now this is a pretty easy pattern to fold to make it so when you pull one wipe out it feeds the next one out of the container.

Lay down one wipe open, overlap half way with a second wipe.

Fold the other half of the first wipe over half of the second wipe.

Add a third wipe overlapping the exposed half of the first wipe and fold the second wipe over the overlapped area.

Keep adding wipes alternating sides to create an interlocked stack.

Step 3: Add Water

If you want to keep it simple, just add water, about 2 cups, you want the wipes to be all wet, but not so wet that they drip.

Add the water then wait for a couple seconds to let the wipes soak up what they can.  Press on the top of the wipe stack then tip over the container to drain any excess water out.  If the wipes seem dry just add water until some excess water drains off when tipped, so you know they are soaked through.

If you want to add fragrance, soap or a disinfectant to the wipes, there are tons of options.

I like to do a simple Chamomile Lavender mix with a little gentle baby soap.

First brew up a cup of Chamomile tea.

Pour about 1/3 cup of tea into a measuring cup (reserve remainder of tea for last step) and add a squirt of soap and 3-4 drops of lavender essential oil.
Stir gently to create as few bubbles as possible.  Add water to 1 cup and pour over the wipes.  Pour a second cup of water over the wipes, Drain excess.

Now just feed the top wipe through the top of the container as use like disposables, just without the trash part.

Step 4: Lessons Learned

Grab your cup of tea and add some honey, stir and enjoy.

I have been using rag wipes for awhile and have learned some lessons, I'll share my mistakes to help you succeed.

Use shirts that are 100% cotton, I have found the poly blends have a tendency to roll and deform in the wash.

Save the smaller cuts from the shirt for toddler hankies, because giving toddlers paper tissues can be messy. (boogie confetti anyone?)

Don't stack more wipes than you can use in a week in a container unless you are using a soap in your moisture solution, plain water can go stagnant and make for some yucky wipe stank.

Keep a second wipe container on your changing table to collect dirty wipes.  If you use cloth diapers, just toss the wipes them right in the wet bag with the dirty diapers.