After mugs, knick-knacks, cats and dogs - tell us about your teatowels

Jacky thanks for bothering to read my link

Oh, and having now read Pikachu's link, I would add that I wouldn't dream of drying my hands on a teatowel. I have a separate towel for that. Doesn't everyone? I don't trust DH to do that though, hence the frequent teatowel turnover.

I use them once only. They are washed at 90 degrees with extra Vanish and ironed with a steam iron for extra sterility. I get a fresh one out every time I empty the dishwasher to dry the plastic which doesn't get properly hot. I then use it to dry the couple of bits of hand washing, then rub the counter and the sink dry then they go in the wash. Same with the dishcloths. New one every day. We were well trained in hygiene in the Junior Red Cross.

ANYWAY - I've found that poem - hooray! It was on a teatowel my parents gave me once. I copied out the poem before it disintegrated into shreds.

Just a line to say I'm living
That I'm not amongst the dead
Though I'm getting more forgiving
And mixed up in the head
I've got used to my arthritis
To my dentures I'm resigned
I can cope with my bifocals
But - ye gods - I miss my mind.

Sometimes I can't remember
When I'm standing by the stairs
If I'm going up for something
Or have just come down from there.
And before the fridge so often
My mind is full of doubt
Now did I put some food away
Or come to take some out?

If it's not my turn to write dear,
I hope you won't get sore
I may think I have written
And don't want to be a bore
So remember I do love you
And wished that you lived near
But now it's time to mail this
And say "goodbye, my dear"

I'm standing beside the mail box
But my face - it sure is red
Instead of posting this to you
I've opened it instead.

My mum loved a nice tea towel. After she died I took a lot of her collection home with me and used them, she’s been gone fifteen years now and they gave me a lot of comfort and connection during this time. I’ve been able to gradually let go of them as they’ve become worn and the years have passed. I’ve got some nice ones too, some I don’t use - my girls both had one made in primary school which had their pictures (hand drawn) and their names on. I’m making each of my daughters a small memory box to leave them when I’m gone (please God not for a while yet) and I shall put the tea towels in along with other memories. Without wishing to get too sad or sentimental during this stressful time, life is precious and we should use these moments to tell those we love, friends and family how much they mean to us. Wishing you all stay safe and well and enjoy your t towels if you have them.?

Love my tea towels and iron them nicely - I like them to be colour co-ordinated, most of them are blue or cream with a few floral ones.
As I love sewing I sometimes embellish them with a pretty border. I also fold them in half and use them as tray cloths.

I’ve got about 6 that I use and about 10 that are just too lovely to use.

To those who don’t use tea towels, how do you dry the dishes? I hate leaving stuff draining and would far rather dry everything up and put away.

More as memento's than practical use. I used to have quite a number as I gave D an ottoman with tea-towels, large damask tablecloths and various other linens because there was no room here for it as she's the one with the large home now.

I have about sixty or more tea towels, some brought back from our second home.
I think my favourite is a very good linen one depicting Raffles hotel, closest I will ever get to an exotic holiday.

Mine are purely functional and very rarely get used to dry dishes. I'm too lazy to dry up, although my mum always did.

I have two French metis torchons, they are huge!
I bought than as vintage but they had never been used, they had been exquisitely embroidered with someone’s initials then stored.

The metis cloth is like cardboard until it has been soaked for 48hrs in cold water and vinegar.
With every wash they get softer and softer, I have had them many years and consider them an heirloom!!!

I hope in many years our grandchildren will be using them.

Mine are black or brown. I still have my Gransnet one somewhere, unused.

Germ-laden tea towels

Well yes, if you use them once and then ‘change’ I agree. That presumably mean washing them and ironing them to maintain their germ-free status, but what a waste of value resources - water, electricity, soap powder - all for a tea towel.

Pikachu Not germ laden if you change them after one use. If you iron the ones you have laundered, their insides are sterile or close to sterile and recommended for covering burns.

People have given me various picturesque ones from their travels.
The cotton/linen ones sit in the drawer, utterly useless for drying pots. Eventually I give them away, in as pristine a condition as they arrived.

I use absorbent towelling ones for drying pots which in fact I rarely do.

I wash pots and leave them to drain and dry in the sun which shines through the kitchen window from about 3pm to sunset.

I bought a couple of tea towels recently but am planning to ask for a refund - not fit for purpose - far too beautiful to use, especially if you love hares.

I have t-towels with the handprints of my Pre-School classes printed on them also a few that my childrens class had printed with self portrait on them. I was given one every year my DGD was at primary School that had a Christmas card she had designed printed on to it. I treasure them all and they have a special shelf all of their own

I have one of those too - never used. Most of mine are multi-striped linen, bought at Glamis Castle at least 20 years ago. They had been woven on the premises and you could see the looms at work. The weavers were very particular about quality and mine were sold cheap as "seconds", but I couldn't find any flaws. They are still as good as new, in spite of daily use, as are the same ones I gave my son when he bought his first flat. I also have a couple of those linen ones with a red stripe down the centre with "linen" woven into it. They belonged to an older friend of my mother and had already been in use for years. The rest are various cotton ones with souvenir designs - not as hardwearing but useful just the same, and not just for drying dishes.

Mine I’m afraid not very interesting mostly red and white or plain red to match my kitchen walls

Am thinking of having similar ones printed for the clientele of The Alphabet Bar.....start drawing Chewy

I'd forgotten about that one annsixty, thanks for reminding me! I must have that hidden away somewhere; must dig it out.

Yes, I have one of those too Ann that our son did when aged about ten, a very funny drawing of himself.It sits at the bottom of the drawer unused, as I would like him to find it.....one day (but not just yet!)

My favourite, never been used, is one which my GS , 21 tomorrow, did along with all his classmates in their first year at school.
They all had to draw themselves and write their name underneath. Most are a head and stick arms and legs and many names are unreadable.
A lovely memento.

My father, who grew up in Lancashire and worked in the cotton industry, always insisted we had linen tea towels, and I do too. I have a large, varied and holey collection, as few places apart from the National Trust seem to sell them now.
Found a collection of those tea towels with the glass stripe down the middle when I emptied their house.

I always buy a tea towel from places I visit and now my son is married I buy him one too and he buys me one. It’s become a standing joke between us. Harmless silly fun. And I use them but never more than once before washing as yes - they harbour germs.