Before we moved to Wisconsin, we rarely used paper napkins. I have a stack of cloth napkins, and we used those at every meal. I just washed them with my regular load of towels. No extra work. No spending money on paper napkins. No extra trash produced. For some reason, it just hasn't worked out that way in this house. It may be that my son is older and uses more than he used to, the nice laundry shoot that goes straight to the basement where my laundry is out of sight and out of mind, or the inconvenient location of our napkin drawer. We have only been using them at dinner, not all the time.
At any rate I decided to fix this today. Our 1920's house has a nifty little breakfast nook where we eat breakfast, lunch, and snacks. This is where most of the paper napkin usage happens. Out went the traditional paper napkin holder and in went a $0.50 garage sale find basket.
Next, on to making the napkins. I can't remember where I saw this idea or I would credit them, but I am going to share it here because it is so brilliantly simple. I found my son's old red and white gingham curtains in the fabric bin, and cut it into rectangles 15.5"x12.25". (I used one of my store bought napkins as a template.) I pulled some threads out of all four sides to create fringe and voila- 7 new napkins. This was so quick and easy. I will definitely be buying more gingham in assorted colors so we can have a big stack of napkins for the whole week! This might even make a nice housewarming gift if you make a dozen or so (or more) and put them in a nice basket with a bow. Just a thought.
When I used up all my gingham, I started looking for other fabric I could use up in my stash. I found some Curious George fabric. The purpose for which I purchased it has long been forgotten. I cut it into rectangles, as well, with the intent of doing the same thing to them. I realized that the fringe was not going to look quite as quaint on the print as it did on the gingham. I was not in the mood to fold over hems and press and pin and miter corners or line up square corners. I wanted napkins, and I wanted them fast. Low and behold, I found plain red fabric in my bin as well. I cut the same size rectangles out of the red, put the right sides of my print and my solid together, and sewed the edges with a 3/8" seam allowance, leaving a 4" opening to turn the whole thing right side out. Before turning it right side out, I trimmed the corners. Once it was right side out, I gave the edges a quick press, being sure to turn fabric under at the opening, and top stitched around the edges.
My little one was so excited about these napkins. He kept trying to find a reason to use one. I may just have to find some other fun fabric for these too. You can never have enough napkins when you have a little boy!
