DIY Cloth Napkins

Hello again! In this post I will go over how I made my cloth napkins for our home. It's so simple- literally took me one day to make all 22 of these bad boys.

My husband has been getting onto me about doing something with my fabric stash for a while now (APPARENTLY he was tired of looking at the overflowing drawers). I've been wanting to make cloth napkins for a few months, so this gave me the perfect opportunity to quit putting it off.

Materials needed:
-Sewing machine
-Fabric (I just used whatever I could find)
-Thread
-Ruler
-Scissors
-Iron

I found some thin, white cloth my grandma gave me when she cleaned out her stash last summer. First thing I did (after washing, drying, and ironing) was to mark off and cut out 12" X 12" squares.
Note: I made medium-sized napkins because the large ones drive me crazy, but if you prefer the large napkins I would recommend cutting 17" X 17" squares. 

 Next, I folded each side over 1/4" two times and ironed to make sewing the seams
easier. I chose to go with a red thread because our kitchen theme is red.

I decided on a zigzag stitch - partially because I knew it would hold well and mainly because I LOVE the look of it. I set my alignment to "Left" and put my seam in the exact middle so that I could ensure the stitch went on both sides evenly. MAKE SURE TO BACKSTITCH AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF YOUR WORK!!!

 When I got to each of the corners, I simply kept my needed in the fabric, lifted my presser foot, and turned my napkin until it was realigned on the seam. That way I could just do one continuous stitch.

I did this with each of my napkins and I love the result (even if the picture doesn't do them justice)!! The Diva (aka our 5 year old) was the first one to try them out and told me"I like these.  They're really soft on my face." Score! I  am going to go through my stash some more and shop clearance for holiday fabrics to make themed napkins. Yes, I'm one of those crazy ladies.

Thanks for reading; look forward to another post by Saturday! I seem to constantly be doing something.

Quick update: we have been using these for almost 4 months now and LOVE them! I just throw them in with my towels when I do laundry. Since we first began using these, we have gone through only two rolls of paper towels (used mainly for spills now), compared to the 1 1/2 - 2 we would use a month. Now that's a money saving difference right there!