our house is filled to the brim with all the wonderful gifts we got for our wedding. so much so, in fact, that we had to do a pretty significant kitchen reorganization just to find a place for all our new things.
the most signifiant change is likely the pot rack, which saves us about two cabinets worth of space that is now filled with things other than pots and pans.
but then there are more subtle changes. new placemats! a citrus reamer! a kitchen funnel! (yes, i really am excited about these small and very useful kitchen tools). one thing that we looked and looked for was cloth napkins, but we just couldn’t settle on any we liked. so, when my aunt, uncle, and cousin gifted us a brother sewing machine, it seemed like making our own napkins was calling my name. after all, napkins are all straight lines. i can handle that.
i chose a fabric that matched our placemats but also had a pattern, since most of our dishware is simple white. the fabric is yellow and has little deer on it, is 100% organic cotton canvas, made by a designer named “jay-cyn,” and sold in my favorite fabric store. there are just too many perfect little coincidences that line up with our lives for me to pick any other.
the task of making napkins is really quite simple:
1. decide on a napkin size. from talking to the girl who runs the fabric store, standard napkin size ranges from 16-20 square inches. i wanted to make 10 napkins, so with leaving some extra room for the hems i ended up purchasing 2.5 yards of fabric.
2. wash and dry the fabric. it’ll shrink, so you want to do this before you make any cuts.
3. measure and mark. this is tricky with a fabric that has a pattern on it that doesn’t involve any straight lines, so i spent quite a bit of time measuring and using the trees as my point of reference. to make the napkins 16 inches, i needed to measure out 19 inch squares, assuming the hem would be 1 1/2 inches per side.
4. once you’ve measured, cut out the squares and give them a good once over with the iron to make sure everything is flat and straight.
5. next pin the hem. since i didn’t want any fray showing, i first did a 1/2 inch hem, sewed those all around, and then did a 1 inch hem after that. you’ll spend about triple the amount of time pinning and ironing than you will sewing, which makes this process quite lengthy.
6. iron, iron, iron. after every step. seriously.
7. set the table and make a messy dinner. don’t be afraid use your napkins, after all, that’s why you made 10, so some could be in the wash while the others were on the table of your fancy dinner party.
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