HANDMADE HOLIDAYS: DINNER NAPKINS

If you have any family or friends who love food and gathering around the table, these dinner napkins will be a perfect gift for them.  You can personalize these with your fabric choices in print or color.  Make them farmhouse-y by using a pillow ticking or muslin, or make them modern and fun using a super-hero print.  Just be sure to use a medium-weight quilting cotton type fabric for these (you can ask questions about this at your local fabric store).  Stretch fabrics will not work for this project.

Gather your materials (makes 4 napkins):

1 yard fabric (I used pillow ticking), thread, basic sewing supplies

Let’s start with cutting four 17″ X 17″ squares from your yard of fabric.

On each corner, measure approximately 1″ from each one diagonally:

Cut that 1″ piece off diagonally:

With your iron, press down 1/2″ on all four long edges, and 1/4″ on each diagonal corner:

Again with your iron, fold down another 1/2″ on all of the long edges.  This will create a mitered point in the corner.  You may have to “play” with this a little bit to make it work as you like it.  Just remember that perfection is not your goal, but rather nice folded edges and a pointed corner:

Add some pins to your edges to tack them down while you sew.  With your sewing machine, sew along the inside edge of your hem all the way around (backstitch at your starting and stopping points):

Now you will sew along the outer edge of your hem all the way around (backstitch at your starting and stopping points):

Now you are done!  Take some time to iron the napkins nice and flat and wrap them up with some cute ribbon and twine and you are all set to give your gift!

Happy Handmade Holidays, friends!