Muslin, the thin cheap one, is the best thing I have found to make dish towels. It is only 36" wide, so use the sides for your ends, and hem the long sides (I cut mine about 18" wide, so have about a 15" wide dish towel for using. That is for the ones to be used for drying towels. A heavier type cotton fabric (I think some folks use it for counted cross stitch) I cut into about 12" squares--my hands aren't very big, so can't squeeze out a big dish rag--and they are hard and rough for awhile until they get that used feeling to them, but it works for me. Do you knit or crochet. Some of my favorite dish rags are made by friends of mine who give them out at meetings, etc. as door prizes and little thank you gifts for cooking a dessert or some such. Just be sure to use pure cotton thread. Good luck. Please post your efforts in the future.