Something for nothing: scrappy napkins

I’d like some empty space for my Christmas tree, so the front room (basically a large storage room right now) needs to be cleared out. We’ve laid a few things aside for Joppa Outreach (winter coats take up a LOT of room) and a few things for the local antique shop to consider buying. I also photographed some stuff and put it on a Facebook community swap list. And I can’t wait to get the Boy Scout camping supplies out of my front room in a couple weeks.

juliecache sewing cloth napkins

Turning scraps into useful objects

In the spirit of cleaning, I also looked at my fabric stash. Remember the aqua floral fabric from a sewing party, seen here? I have enough to replace our hole-y napkins. We aren’t sure why, but we have fabric napkins — red background with white stars — and the stars have holes in them. Maybe bleach was used to print the pattern?

Anyway, they need replacing, so I turned to Sew Mama Sew last night. (Original tutorial here, first blogged by me here.) It’s been a while since I last made cloth napkins, and about half of our current napkins are wearing through their seams and folds. It’s time for a fresh look.

There is little waste in the tutorial pattern, as long as you have both large and small cuts of leftover fabric. They measure 16″ square, so you must have a wide length for one of the sides.

My scraps are testing my color theory skills — I have limited quantities of limited color families. I must have had some project in mind that included pink and red, but I don’t remember what it was. Maybe there was just a good deal and I had nothing in mind other than cheap prices.  Oh well, I’m liking the results so far. All the napkins have the aqua floral print on the back.

scrappy napkins