Hand Made Napkins

Note:  I added a picture of a napkin I made roughly 8+ years ago using a simple zig-zag stitch.  It's about half way down the post if you'd like to see it. =0)

I love finding deals on fabric.  When I found cotton fabric on sale for $1 & $2 per yard, I figured I'd better get as much as I could to make napkins.  My napkins are getting tattered and old, so it is time to replace them.

To begin, I wash the fabric and iron it well to get all the wrinkles out.  The fabric you see below is 6 yards.  I folded it in half by width  to iron it.

(Yes, that is a burn mark on my ironing board cover.  My kids are still learning how to iron. )

This is a pile of napkins that I'd already cut the day before waiting to be serged.  

After I iron, I carefully fold the fabric length wise making sure that all folds are straightened and smooth.

After ironing.

The width of the fabric is about as wide as the distance from my finger tips to the middle of my forearm.

When I lay the fabric on my desk, I lay it in folds so that it doesn't hit the floor and get dirty.  I am able to bring the fabric across my cutting mat and measure out sections 14 inches wide to cut.

There are always frayed edges.  I smooth everything out as much as possible, lay my cutting ruler across the fabric making sure to line everything up as much as I possibly can, and use my rotary cutter to cut a smooth line across the fabric.

I've made napkins without a mat and rotary cutter as well.  You can use a ruler and scissors.  

After cutting the frayed ends off

Every napkin is 14 inches wide.  We've tried doing 12 and 13 inches, but they turned out too small for our tastes.  However, give it a try and see how you like it for your family's needs.  You may find that 12 inches works fine.  You may also find that 15 inches might work better for your family.

After cutting the 14 inch square.

Better view of the square

After cutting all the fabric that I have, I begin sewing around each napkin with a serging stitch.  Some sewing machines don't have this stitch, which is fine.  You can do a basic zig-zag stitch with the stitch setting closer together and the stitch size set at a small.  Zig-zagging is what I've done for years before my husband blessed me with my Janome machine.  This is an example of a zig-zagged cloth napkin I made years ago and it is still working for us quite well. 

The zig-zagged edges worked wonderfully for me then.  What a blessing these napkins have been to our family!

You will have some strings that need to be cut.

Lots more to do.

First batch of 6.

Top view.

Why did I choose green?  Well, it was already threaded on my machine, I had a little bit left of this color, so I decided to use it.  I know I will run out of this color before all of these napkins are done and that's ok.  I'll use blue because I have a lot of blue.  I'm not concerned about matching things, but more about functionality.  But, honestly, I do like green, so this is ok!  =0)

Now for the million dollar question:  Why go through all of this to make cloth napkins?  Why not just use store bought ones?  Those are very good questions in my mind!  And, I will be glad to answer them!  

When we had 2 kids in diapers, all the food was bought for 2 weeks, all the bills were paid and we only had $68 left for gas for my husband to travel back and forth to work until payday that was another 2 weeks away, something had to give.  We prayed and prayed that God would take care of us without a major catastrophe and He did.  However, my husband and I agreed that something needed to change.  

A couple weeks later I was heading home from a doctor appointment and passed by a Christian book store.  I went in and started looking for frugality and thrift books and came across: 

I devoured this book!  In the back were suggestions for other books, newspapers, magazines and so forth.  I went to the library to check them out before purchasing them.  I came across:

and didn't turn back.  With many of the suggestions in these two books, our lives had changed forever, for the better!  I had choices!  I didn't have to pay full price at the store for things!  

One of the above books had the idea of making home made napkins to reuse.  I've been making these napkins for at least 14 years.  I would always find material for $1 or $2 per yard, no more than that, to use for napkins.  I truly believe that hand made cloth napkins are a money saver.  As I sit here typing this post, I have one of my napkins right here that I had made about 8 years ago that is zig-zagged around the edge.  Just do the math and calculate how much money you will save in a year if you start using home made cloth napkins.  I know that immediately it will be mere pennies since you'll just be getting started, but rest assured, as the years go by you'll see how much those pennies add up.  

Of course, this isn't all we've done to make changes in our lives.  There's more! =0)