One Yard Project: Pink Napkins with Mitered Corners
Photo via Our Food Stories
Growing up, my mother told me stories of how young women used to work away making all of their own tablecloths, quilts, dish towels, etc. by the time they got married. It seems like a romantic idea, doesn’t it? How lovely it would be to move into a new home and to be able to fill it with things you handcrafted. Think of all the time you would spend pouring love into your new home through stitching before the home even existed for you.
This week for the first time, I’m getting the keys to my very own house. Unlike days of old, I’m not getting married and moving into my own home with a partner. I’m still joyfully unmarried, but I decided it is time to invest in homeownership.
As the move-in date draws nigh, it has me thinking of all the handmade things I would like to bring into it, all the things I have not spent the last 20 years making.
I thought I could at least start with a few simple things using less than one yard of fabric. My first project is pink cloth napkins with mitered corners.
Is there anything more luxurious than using cloth at the dinner table? Whenever I’m a guest and cloth napkins are in use, I almost feel sinful getting them dirty by actually using them! But that’s the point, isn’t it? The point is that taking care of cloth napkins, getting the stains out, is more work. You put them out for guests because you want them to feel special, to feel like they are WORTH the extra work.
When I have guests over in my new (old) home, I want to have napkins that make them feel amounts of extra specialness.
Photo via Our Food Stories
Here’s how to make them:
Using fabrics-store.com Mid Weight LIGHT PINK softened linen, cut rectangles of fabric the size of the napkins you want. I used 15” x 11”.
With a really steamy iron, fold in your desired hem allowance. I used 3/8”.
- Fold the hem up again and press with a steamy iron.
- Unfold the second fold and press the corner up diagonally. To make sure you have it in the right spot, match up the fold lines on the corner with the fold lines of the second fold.
- Mark along the diagonal folded line.
- Fold in half, matching up the lines, and sew in place.
- Trim the seam allowance to about 1/8”
- Turn the corner inside out. Using a point turner, press out the corner to make it crisp.
- Carefully sew all the way around the folded edge of the napkin, as close to the folded edge as you can.
- They’re done!
I may not have been toiling away the last 20 years to hand embroider dish towels or bedspreads, but I do have my own pink linen napkin set.
FS LIGHT PINK Softened Mid Weight 100% Linen
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12 Comments
chaturthi traders
Proper use of dinner napkins is an essential aspect of dining etiquette. Knowing how to place them on your lap, use them to wipe your mouth discreetly, and signal when you’ve finished your meal are all part of good table manners.
VISIT: https://chaturthitraders.com/product/dinner-napkins-1616-cm-50-napkins-2-ply/
Carin Hill
Lovely article! Is it best to wash the linen before sewing or after? Thank you!
Sarah Kirsten
Hello Carin,
Good question. I actually like to wash my fabric both before and after sewing. I wash it before to make sure there is no shrinking, and to just let the fibers sort of relax and settle into themselves. Washing it after just gives it a cozy feel and lets the new hems sort of become “one,” so feel as though the belong, with the rest of the piece 🙂
Donna Horton
Not too different from making linen purificators for the altar. They are white, hemmed, mitre-cornered pieces of cloth embroidered with a cross and used to wipe the lip of the chalice during communion. Lavabo towels are similar and used for the priest to dry his or her hands after a ritual washing before communion. And baptismal towels are embroidered with a shell symbol and used to blot the water away from hair and face after a baptism. If I have time, I hand-stitch the hems invisibly.
Sarah Kirsten
Hi Donna,
Oh my what works of art those must be! It seems special to participate in a deeper way in the religious rituals by making the cloths themselves. What a special job you have!
Marie Evans
Would appreciate actual pictures of the project instead of pictures of random food.
Masha Karpushina
Hello Marie, this tutorial was written to inspire, rather than offer a detailed step by step guide. We do however have a detailed tutorial here: https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2018/12/05/sewing-glossary-how-to-sew-mitered-corners-tutorial/ Hope this helps.
Adrielle Hanes
Thank you! I was wondering where the usual line of detailed photos were too! 🙂
Tracy Grondin
Congratulations on your home purchase!! How exciting!! I have been using my linen scraps to make napkins, even if they’re not strictly “napkin sized”, for the family to use. If they’re really too small, I use them as washcloths or just to dry my hands when working in the kitchen, instead of using a dishtowel. It’s hard to explain what a feeling of pleasure it gives me to use these!
Terry Sandlin
I love the idea of turning your scrap pieces into dish towels!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Sarah Kirsten
Hi Terry, maybe soon your kitchen will be full of all the colorful cloths left over from your other sewing projects! 🙂
Sarah Kirsten
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the congratulations on the house! You said it so well — hard to describe how satisfying it is to use our own handmade things around our home. Such a little thing that brings joy. Thank you for sharing!