I love cloth napkins. Love them. And I plan to use them for all my family meals. You know … as soon as I have a family to cook meals for. But that’s beside the point. The point, is cloth napkins. In my opinion, they make table settings look extra lovely. Which should always be the goal. Lovely meals. Lovely presentations. Lovely time spent together around the table.

Plus, using them means less paper waste in the landfills. And it’s so easy to just toss them in with the loads of laundry you already have to do. It really takes no extra effort to use cloth napkins.

OK. I’m off my soap box now. Here’s how to make your own so that you can customize your tablescape to the desired look you want. They’re SO easy!

Cloth Napkins

(makes 4 napkins)

Supplies

1 1/4 yards of fabric (44/45″ wide) . scissors or rotary cutter . sewing machine . thread . iron

Steps

1. Wash, dry, & iron your fabric.
2. Cut four 21″ squares.
3. Fold raw edges of each square over 1/4″ on wrong side of fabric and iron in place.
4. Fold again 1/4″ and iron.
5. Sew 1/8 of inch from edge along all four sides of square.

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Matching Yo-Yo Napkin Rings

(makes about 7 rings)

Supplies

1 foot of coordinating fabric (44/45″ wide) . scissors or rotary cutter . sewing machine . needle . thread . matching button or bead . fabric glue

Steps

1. Cut one 12″ x 3″ strip of fabric and one 7″ x 3 1/2″ strip of fabric.
2. Fold the short ends of the 12″ strip under 1/4″ (on wrong side) and iron in place.
3. Now fold the same strip in half, lengthwise, with wrong sides together.
4. Hand stitch (over, under, over, under) along raw edge, close to edge, pulling and gathering to create the round yo-yo.
5. Close yo-yo by stitching ends together. Set aside.
6. Take the 7″ strip and fold in half, lengthwise, with right sides together.
7. Machine stitch 1/4″ from raw edge to create a tube.
8. Turn tube right-side out and iron flat.
9. Overlap raw ends of tube 1/4″ and sew together to create ring.
10. Turn seam to inside of ring and iron to one side.
11. Using fabric glue, attach the yo-yo to the ring at the seam.
12. Glue button or bead to center of yo-yo.
13. Allow to dry before using.