I love cloth napkins and what they represent. Cloth napkins give an aura of sit down family dinners, sunny picnics, or fancy restaurant fare. Just seeing a table set with them makes me happy. They never peel off in layers and stick to your hands. They are luxurious and yet more cost effective than paper. A set of cloth napkins will last about 10 years with daily use. Now that I've been married for more than 11 years, I need to replenish my stash.
Yesterday I saw a set of 3 hand towels for $4 at Wal-mart and fell in love with the fabrics. For a moment the background turned to soft focus and the noise from my boys faded while I fingered the soft, loosly woven fabric. Impulsively I stuck them in my basket. I decided to use my blow money on them, though I didn't have a plan.
When I got home, I realized that they were the perfect start to my cloth napkin need. This morning I completed the project in 15 minutes. 6 napkins for $4 is definitely less than buying ready made napkins, but not as frugal as making them completely from scratch. I decided a dozen of these would make a great wedding gift in a time pinch. The finished napkins are 13 by 18 inches rectangle. A nice dinner size and easy to fold just right for under the fork.
All I did was cut them in half:
press the raw edge over twice, and top stitch in place. The other 3 sides were all ready hemmed from the factory. Almost too easy to talk about.
I love comments. They totally make my day!
Yep, that’s what I do. Love the red!
I am really enjoying your blog. Just downloaded your ebook and am looking forward to learning more frugal ways. Thanks.
Almost-ready napkins… great idea! I need to get my sewing machine set up this summer. I keep seeing great projects everywhere I look!
Love this idea, thanks! š
I’ve made napkins as wedding gifts before, but I never thought of making them from towels. Thanks for all the great ideas!
Oh, love the idea. I have those same towels, too.
Great idea’s for gifts. Any idea;s for inexpensive little graduation gifts? My son and a number of close friends are graduating. I can’t afford to give them all money! Any suggestions would be great!
thanks,
Patti
Patti, when I graduated from high school the gifts that were most appreciated were items to help with my dorm room. Like a set of Xlong twin sheets, a set of towels to take, or a bedside rug, and small decorations like candles. I was also given grown up school supplies like a pen set. I imagine a laptop sleeve (lots of tutorials online) in special fabric would be well received. I think boys are a little harder to gift to but a basket of dorm room friendly food (usually microwave only, like popcorn and ready to eat snacks) are sure to be a hit.
I love your napkins! They would be great gifts.
Good idea! I’m in the process of making a bunch of cloth napkins (thanks to you for that amazing idea!) out of a stash of fabric I got for free from someone and was about to throw away because I didn’t like the prints enough to use in my usual crafts. They’ll make great napkins, though!
I love to use dishtowels from the Dollar Tree as inexpensive napkins. They’re sold in packs of 2 or more for just a dollar. They have cute colors and mine have help up wonderfully in the wash. I didn’t cut mine down as I have messy kids and the bigger the napkin the better!