Being Cheap Is The Mother Of Invention…

July 6, 2015

Recently I’ve been very busy designing some knitwear projects.  Some are for things I need, such as a new purse and bath mitts.  I can’t believe how hard it is to find a purse that makes me happy.  The purse design I’m working on now has several requirements:  It must have a strap long enough that it crosses over my body (because I basically carry my life in my purse, I can’t bear the thought of owning a bag that must be either carried on my arm at all times or left exposed in a shopping cart).  It must have several compartments (organization is a must for me because I’m a bit of a control freak).  Finally, it must have some form of closure on it (either zippers or flaps) to keep my “stuff” easily accessible to me, but not to others.  So I’m working on that design and will post that at a future date.

I’m also refining my bath mitt pattern.  I made myself one several months back and have discovered that I absolutely love it.  Wearing the mitt while taking a shower virtually eliminates its being dropped in the shower.  It’s made of cotton yarn, so it’s soft and comfortable to use as well as easy to wash.  Since it has a pocket, it quickly soaps up when I place a small bar of my home-made soap in it.  I would have never guessed that something so ordinary would make taking a shower so quick and easy.

I’ve found that a lot of my design solutions come from having real-life problems that need to be solved.  Take my Swiffer mop/broom/whatever-it-is, for instance.  The kit that I purchased from Costco came with a small pack of dry refills as well as a few wet refills.  Although I have to admit that it pained me to throw the used Swiffer wipes in the trash because I don’t like skunking up Mother Earth with trash, I went through that pack of refills fairly quickly.  After mulling over in my mind how many wipes I could go through in a year, I resolved to find a better way.

On a trip with Charming to the Harbor Freight store, I came upon a pack of four micro fiber cloths on sale for $2.49.  Hmmmm…I thought.  Those might work well for wet or dry applications in my Swiffer mop.  So I purchased them and came up with a pattern that works as well (really better) than the refills that originally came with the mop.  See the pictures below for my pattern and loose instructions on how I make them.

While I’m mentioning the Harbor Freight store, I must tell you that I absolutely love going there.  Although it’s more of a “man’s store,” I have found many items that I have been able to use around the house…such as the sling shot I bought a few weeks ago…but that’s a topic for future blog post!  Hope you all had a wonderful 4^th of July!

A sample of the micro fiber cloths that I purchased from the Harbor Freight
store.  The sew-on Velcro is from Walmart.

My Swiffer mop head measures about 17" long x 5 1/2" wide, so I
cut the 12"x12" cloth into two pieces.  I had to use a half of another
cloth to make the pattern work for my mop.  Three cloths will give
me two re-usable cloths for my mop.  

Using my serger, I serged the short edges together to form a long strip.  

Next, I folded the fabric on one end to make a 4" pocket.  (You could
pin the pocket in place, if necessary.)  I then serged around all of the
edges to prevent raveling.

I slipped the cover onto the mop and marked the spots for two pieces of
Velcro, then I sewed them on securely using my sewing machine.

Finally, I sewed the corresponding pieces of Velcro onto the top side of
the cover and stitched them into place.  (This could be one strip, not
two as shown in my picture...but didn't think of that until I was making
my 2nd cover.)

Here's a picture of the actual dirt that I picked up with my Swiffer
re-usable mop covers.  They work great, are easy to make (after
a bit of practice) and are washable.  I just wait until I get all of mine
dirty and throw them into the washer.  (Do remember to make sure
the Velcro strips are pressed together before washing/drying as
they would otherwise get tangled together.)

This picture shows four mop covers that I made in the space of about
an hour.  The bottom one is a dirty one that I used to mop the floor.
(Easiest way to mop the floor with these is to use a medium-sized
spray bottle.  Add 1/4 cup of white vinegar and fill remainder with
water.  Spray a section of floor at a time and mop with the Swiffer.
Quick and easy!)

A bonus!  I serged two layers of left-over micro fiber
cloth together and use them to mop up spills at the coffee pot.