DIY Tutorial | Cloth Napkin and Napkin Rings

I know I'm not the only person in the world who likes a well-set table, but I'm certainly the only person in my family.  For years my husband has tried to train me out of my "fanciness".  To be fair, I'm a pretty simple girl.  I like matching plates and cups.  White serving platters and bowls.  A tablecloth and cloth napkins on Sundays and special occasions.  He would prefer that we eat off of paper plates every night and serve food from the pan it was cooked in.  That's because I do almost all the cooking and he and the kids almost always do the dishes.  The more I dirty up, the more there is to clean afterward.  Soup looks really nice in a white ceramic tureen, but it tastes exactly the same so why dirty up a whole 'nother dish when you could just put the soup pot on the table?!  

They have me mostly converted, but guess what's right around the corner . . . MOTHER'S DAY!  My family usually makes me a really nice breakfast on Mother's Day and they do it up right -- just like I like it.  With that in mind, I decided to take some pretty fabric and sew up a new set of napkins and napkin rings for them.

Side story -- I had to order some supplies and stuff online for girls camp and Etsy orders and I figured out that I was about 1 yard of fabric away from qualifying for free shipping on the website.  Since the total cost was going to be the same either way, I was all like, "Hey, free fabric", and I added this awesome Amy Butler laurel dots to my cart.  I love it when that happens!

Anyway -- making cloth napkins isn't a super exciting project.  You just cut a square of fabric {mine was 18" on each side} and make a narrow hem all the way around to finish the edges.  BUT!  I have learned the EASIEST way to sew PERFECT MITERED CORNERS every time, and this is just the project to practice on.  You'll have 4 mitered corners per napkin and, what, like 4-8 napkins per set?  You'll be a pro by the time you're done.

First things first, you'll be able to get 4 18-inch napkins per yard of fabric so decide how many you want before you go buy fabric.  I wanted a set of 8 so I made four out of one print and 4 more out of a coordinating print.  Cut the fabric into 18" squares.

STEP 1: Begin by placing the fabric wrong-side up on your ironing board and press down  1/4 – 1/2 inch of all four sides. Double it to fold those edges in on themselves again and press another 1/4 – 1/2 inch on top of each.
Unfold the folds you just pressed and this is what you'll have:

Pretend those blue lines are your pressed fold lines.  {I'm a lazy sew-er so I hardly ever press even though my mom taught me better than that.  Love ya' mom!}Fold the corner in at a 45-degree angle right at the spot where line 2 intersects at the corner and press in place.  Trim off the extra little corner of fabric, just like in the photo.

STEP 2:  Refold the folds you pressed in step 1 along one edge and pin in place. Do the same thing for the adjacent edge:

Step 3:  Repeat for all four corners.  Stitch all the way around the edge of your square with your sewing machine using a 1/4 seam allowance.

Voila!  A perfect mitered corner!  Since I already had my sewing machine out, I decided to whip up some coordinating napkin rings out of grosgrain ribbon.  I used about 7" of ribbon and one ribbon slide for each.

 

Feed one end of your ribbon through the ribbon slide.  Fold it over about 1-1/4" and pin in place.

Sew straight down the edge of the ribbon to hold it in place.

I cut the opposite end of the ribbon at an angle and used a q-tip to dab a tiny bit of Mod Podge along the cut edge to seal it.  You could use fray check or any kind of glue that dries clear.  You just don't want your ribbon to unravel with use.   Wrap the ribbon around your cloth napkin, feed the loose end through the ribbon slide and pull it tight.

I really like the fun pop of color and the little extra prettiness it gives the place setting.  So tell me -- are you a "fancy", cloth napkins kind of girl or are you a the-simpler-the-better type?  I'm curious who I'm talking to out there. . .