Spring Napkins

I finally made our family napkins. After realizing that our very nice and fancy (wedding) Hotel Collection napkins, in about 1000 thread count.. oh and in white.. was slowly turning into our dust rags.. I decided it was time to bust the sewing machine out for some much needed napkins. The fabric was bought about 2 months ago and after being threatened by my husband that he "was going to go and buy paper napkins" GASP!!!! I made them. And I love them. And I love that said husband thinks they are "too nice" to use for meals! I love that!

I must have been fabric shopping with Hudson when I bought the fabric. I had enough of the orange fabric, but only 1/2 of the flower pattern.. don't quite know how I thought that was going to work. So after going back to the fabric store and realizing they no longer had that pattern.. I was simply put.. sad. Then I figured that I could just make a bigger boarder using the orange fabric.. and Voila! The perfect sized napkins.






And with your scrap pieces of fabric.. make your little ones their own napkins.


Here's a tutorial on how to make your own napkins.. or better yet, you can purchase some at my etsy shop ;-)



First things first: pick your fabric. I like to use 100% cotton or linen. Go to a place where you will have good service and tell them how many napkins you would like to make. I like to make 8 or 10.

Step 1: Take some cardboard and cut out the size that you want. I chose 18x18. Your napkin will be smaller than that because you will have an inch of folding. Take the cardboard and trace it onto your fabric. You can buy a fancy fabric marker or just use a marker (it will be folded). If you are doing a double sided napkin, do this for both fabrics.
Step 2: Cut the squares.
Step 3: Match your front and back pieces of fabric. Right sides out.
Step 4: Fold in all four corners a 1/2 inch. At each corner snip the corner to reduce bulkiness. Press (a lot).
Step 5: Fold over again 1/2 inch. Press. A lot.
Step 6: Pin your ironed edges.
Step 7: Pin the corners. Making sure that there are no fraying edges.
Step 8: Sew all four edges and corners. Making sure to knit backwards at the front and end to reinforce. I also like to sew all four corners of my corners for a decorative stitch.
Step 9 and 10: Give as a gift to your mother-in-law or friend/family or enjoy for yourself.

Voila! Napkin making! Just a note.. napkin making is very labor and time intensive.

Let me know if you make these. I would love to show your work!

Cheers!
Lora