Making Cloth Napkins

Making basic cloth napkins is a quick and fun sewing project that I have enjoyed for many years. 

Cloth napkins help set the dining mood for a table setting. Cloth napkins bring color to a table setting, too. And using cloth napkins eliminate the use of disposable paper napkins which are wasteful and expensive.

Depending upon the fabric design chosen, cloth napkins can create elegance or a fun and funky table setting. Some of my cloth napkins are theme-based, others have been made to coordinate with sets of dishes. Cloth napkins are a perfect excuse to work with novelty designs –festive hot chilis or cowboy boots can add a special touch to a table setting. Delicate florals or soft cottage garden prints can be used to create cloth napkins for an afternoon tea. Use cloth napkins to set a mood, and to bring cheer and celebration to the table.

I have made napkins with cotton, rayon, and linen and there are advantages and disadvantages with each type of fiber.

Cotton  Soft and absorbent; prone to wrinkling

Linen   Very crisp, easy to fold, elegant; becomes more absorbent with washings; pressing is necessary

Rayon   Absorbent, soft; too soft to fold flat unless rayon is a blend with cotton or linen

When I make cloth napkins, I typically work with cotton and I make my cloth napkins a generous 18-inches square. To do this, the cotton napkin squares are cut at 19-inches square, allowing for a double-folded edge along each side. A 19-inch unfinished napkin will finish up to 18-inches.

However, if you are frugal and working with limited stash like I often do, I adjust the size according to the fabric that I want to use. Often, I only have a yard of cotton fabric to work with, so adjusting the finished size just a bit will give me 4 napkin squares. To maximize the number of napkins that can be made with a yard of fabric, the unfinished napkins squares need to be cut 18-inches square, finishing up at 17-inches. (In reality, who is going to sit at your table and measure the cloth napkin they are using?!)  Another example: you can cut nine 15-inch napkins from a 1 1/4 yard of 45-inch wide fabric without having any remaining fabric.

Before I begin, I determine of the fabric is running true to grain. I don’t want to make cloth napkins if the fabric is going to create a distortion problem when finished and folded. I prewash and dry all cotton fabric before sewing napkins, too, so that any initial shrinkage will take place before the napkins have been stitched.

To cut the fabric squares, I find that it is much easier with rotary tools. I cut my napkins on a rotary matt with a see-through ruler and rotary cutter. The rotary cutter provides the best and quickest cuts when making napkins. If you do not have rotary tools, mark your cotton and use a ruler or crisp fold to guide you as you scissor-cut your fabric squares.

Below are my directions to make basic cotton napkins:

Once the fabric squares have been cut, you’re ready to begin finger-pressing the raw edges back. With the wrong side of the napkin facing you, fold back 1/4-inch of fabric. Finger-press this 1/4-inch fold along the edge of a napkin keeping the fold line straight.

When you have finished folding one edge, then you are ready to fold another edge. Turn the napkin and begin folding back 1/4-inch of fabric at the corner. This will create a double layer of fabric. Continue folding and finger-pressing in a clockwise fashion until you have finished the entire napkin.

Fold and finger-press 1/4-inch of fabric on all napkins, then lightly press with an iron, being careful to keep the folds straight.

To continue preparing the folded edge for hemming, you will be creating a double fold so that the raw edge is completely encased in fabric.

Fold the 1/4-inch fold another 1/4-inch so that the raw edge is now completely covered. As you fold, pin the fold in place. Continue folding in a clockwise fashion until you have finished. As you make the double fold, pin the folded layers along all edges of the entire napkin.

After all napkins have been double folded and pinned in place, the napkins can be hemmed.

The hem for these basic napkins is a straight stitch, sewn along the inner edge of the fold. To keep your stitches consistent and straight, use a stitch guide such as a reference line or the edge of your presser foot.

When hemming the corners, I stitched a small square, ensuring that the napkin corners will lay flat after laundering. Fancy embroidery stitches can also be used, as can twin needle topstitched designs.

Once you have finished hemming, you have created a unique set of cloth napkins! These simple napkins are a quick to make and fun to stitch. And cloth napkins are great for gift-giving, too.

Here, we use cloth napkins every day. Cloth napkins help to create a mood for our meals, and, admittedly, it is one more way for me to fondle fabric! But shhhh….don’t tell my Mister! He just thinks I am frugal.