Dullest thread ever but please help me find perfect tea towels

[YesThisIsMe]

I’m doing a big declutter at the moment but I also have the urge to go shopping. I found the solution to this problem when I looked at the state of my tea towels, which are variously a) stained b) mismatched, like really really random c) torn d) don’t match the decor in the kitchen even remotely. If I replace them with ones which aren’t manky and put the old ones in textile recycling, and it will be Kondo-Neutral and my kitchen will look (slightly) less like a student hovel.

If you weren’t on a tight budget, and your kitchen was decorated in shades of pale blue/green, what would be your ideal teatowels?

I saw the KitchenAid ones, and they looked pretty but I have an unnatural prejudice against towelling tea towels - it's a sensory thing.

I swear by baby muslins as tea towels and they are fantastic at cleaning Windows. One damp one, one dry one to rub away the moisture. Not a smear in site.

Another fan of the John Lewis check tea towels here. They are the only ones we'll buy.

m.johnlewis.com/house-by-john-lewis-geometric-print-tea-towels-pack-of-3-multi/p3152784

Not quite your colour scheme but I bought these ages ago to get free delivery and they are brilliant. They have gotten softer and more absorbent with wear/age and I'll buy them again.

Ulster Weavers have a huge choice & do linen and cotton ones. Great quality too ..
www.ulsterweavers.com

I am also slightly obsessed with tea towels.

Not a dull thread at all OP, I have been searching for the perfect tea towel since I left home at 18 - middle aged with DC now!! I have a drawer full & do a cull chucking the worst ones out quite often. They're either too thin, leave bits when drying anything, have no absorbency, too small, too big or just plain cack!!

I do prefer the towelling sort & the closest I've come so far is a set of checked ones that DGran gave me, she'd bought them at the local carnival when they used to have to towel & pot stalls, we don't have one anymore unfortunately but I'm always on the look out!!

I am replacing my ecloth ones after 20years of hard service. I'm getting new ecloth ones to replace them.

They dry amazingly well and just keep going and going and going.

.

www.e-cloth.com/household-range/country-classic-tea-towel

But how do you keep them clean?? I buy a new teatowel and very, very soon it has picked up a lurking oil or sauce stain from a pan and looks horrible?? The stains never seem to wash out.

how on earth did a tea towel last 20 years and not look evil..i must be doing something seriously wrong!

Jayfee - I use a fresh tea towel every day, I wash in Ariel with white vinegar as softener and ecloths don't stain easily.

I've lost a couple over the years. I nearly cried when a plumber used one to mop up where they were flushing the central heating and some have been caught up in colour run disasters, but they've not done too bad. They aren't as good as they were, but I bought them just before we moved into this house in 1994 and they still dry better than any fluffy, cotten or linen tea towel I've ever had. As I don't have enough to do, I nipped and got one from my tea towel drawer - I'm not a photographer but you get the gist.

btw I've been using those dishcloths that have microfibre on one side and mesh on the other for washing up (no dishwasher) and I do the same, fresh one each day etc, and they aren't holding stains either, not even tomato puree.

I LOVE linen tea towels - the old-fashioned "glass cloth" ones. They are absolutely brilliant.

I was really pleased with the linen ones I got in Primark.

Thanks Lisamed I will definitely give them a try