Blissful E » Blog Archive » stack of napkins

06 Aug, 2009

stack of napkins

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Nesting continues!

Over the past several weeks, I have been slowly making napkins for our family to use at the dinner table. This activity was inspired by Nicki's tutorial on napkin sewing and is a follow-on to our continued effort to wean ourselves off our expensive and wasteful paper towel habit.

The most fun part, for me, was buying the material. Since making the napkins is part of an effort to reduce waste, I decided to search for fabric at Salvos, a thrift store run by the Salvation Army. I found a shirt with an embroidered design on the front that would cut down to child-sized napkins. And I spotted a bed ruffle (marked single size, but when I got it home the tag on the sheet said "double") in a deep purple that I really liked. I spent $15 on these two items.

My first step when I got the fabric home was to wash the shirt and sheet. Then I pulled apart the seams on the sheet and cut out the embroidered sections on the shirt.

Next, I started to think about how to hem the napkins. Nicki's tutorial involved ironing, an activity that I happen to loathe - unlike my friend Megan who is blessed with the ability to enjoy ironing!

In order to avoid extra ironing and maximise the finished napkin size, I bought an $11 narrow rolled hem foot at Spotlight.

And then I took a deep breath. Several deep breaths. Because now it was time to use my sewing machine.

To say my sewing machine and I don't get along is an understatement (and I'm not the only one to have trouble with the inappropriately-named "Joy's Sewing Machines"). For whatever reason, my machine insists on being re-threaded every 6-8 stitches. I call my sewing machine the patience machine.

The patience machine and I started off with some practice napkins in red material left over from another project. The edges on those red napkins are pretty crooked, but they are a hit with the tea-drinking crowd around here.

Then, after one of the red napkins made its way through the laundry, I realised I needed to finish and reinforce the corners by hand.

Using my learnings from the play napkins, I cut out four white squares: two 19-inch squares for adults made from the backs of two dress shirts that had stains on the cuffs and collars, and two 12-inch squares made from the embroidered sections of the shirt I bought at Salvos. After machine-sewing relatively straight hems, I hand-finished the corners.

Next I moved to the purple napkins made from the bed skirt. The ruffled edges were the perfect width for 12-inch squares for children's napkins, and the middle section cut easily into six 24-inch squares for the adults.

Ben simplified the cutting-out process by making two cardboard templates for me. Rather than measuring and marking each piece, I folded and pinned the purple material together and simply cut around each template. So much easier to cut out several squares at once.

At this point, I had run out of patience with the patience machine, and with the hand stitching that was occupying every spare moment (not something I can do while breastfeeding). I decided to try a much easier method - finishing the edges of the purple napkins with pinking shears. Quick, simple, and perfect for everyday use.

Now I just need to find a place to put them...

Tags: home management, months 13-17, toddler

stack of napkins

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