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I am working on a little project that needs cloth napkins (stay tuned…) and thought making cloth napkins would also be great for Earth Day (April 22)!
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Here are two versions, one with mitered corners and the other with square corners. First pre-wash the fabric. Cut fabric into a square 1″ larger than the desired finished size. I cut 17 inch squares so that I would have 16 inch napkins.
Mitered Corner Napkin Instructions
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Iron edge over 1/4 inch.
Moving clockwise, iron next edge 1/4 inch over. Iron all four sides then fold first side over again another 1/4 inch. Do all four sides moving clockwise.
Open up corner.
Cut off top of corner.
Fold top edge down (to corner of second fold line) and iron.
Fold the side edge to the middle on each side (folding on press lines – fold side down then fold again to make corner). Repeat until all four sides have mitered corners.
Sew all the way around the edge of napkin.
Finished with a mitered corner napkin!
Square Corner Napkin Instructions
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To make a napkin with square corners, iron edge over 1/4 inch. Moving in clockwise direction iron next side 1/4 inch until all four sides have been pressed 1/4 inch.
Now fold over edges another 1/4 inch (moving in a clockwise direction).
When all four sides have been folded over twice, sew all the way around the edge of the napkin. I think most people sew straight off the edge on each side, but my sewing machine doesn’t like sewing through those layers.
I also like the way it looks from the front.
Finished!
Thanks so much for this easy to understand tutorial. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find instructions on the Internet for making cloth napkins with mitered corners! I found so many videos and tutorials that were so complicated, hard to understand, or not applicable to napkins…this is perfect!
Thank you so much for this, I’ve been frustrated with my corners on my last two projects.
great tutorial. I was worried about how to mitre the corners on napkins I was making but it was easy after I found your instructions. The pictures really helped.
genial tu es douee bises
Making variations of these right now! Thanks for the directions! 🙂
love this simple sewing method.
Looks like 1/2 inch rather than 1/4 – 1/2 inch is standard. They are pretty! Very nice images.
I have beenmaking napkins 40 years. I just ran across the first onesI evr made. It brought back wonderful memories.
Can use cloth napkins to tie up goodies for children. Use as gifts wraps around goodies for friends, family or that special someone. Eat , clean up and wash.
Great gifts!
Good tutorial pictures for mittered cornors.
Just made napkins and placemats to match my two daughter’s dishes from fabric given to me. The placemats were from two diff. patterns – one on each side and I made 2 sets of napkins to match them. They were tickled when I included several mixes I make myself,and a holiday plate and napkin rings I found at a thrift store. Your napkins are a great gift giving and money saving idea! Thank you!
I have to say that this tutorial gave me the MOST PERFECT mitered corners EVER!! I ran the serger around the edge of the napkin, which gave me a 1/4 inch turn-under point and made the hemming of the edges much easier and neater –> but the miter is perfect every single time … amazing! thanks so much!!
I was thinking about Christmas gifts and thought about doing this and did a quick search on line and found this! Totally made me make up my mind…it’s Sept. now….I think I can do it by December!
These napkins are so cute. You make this project look so easy. It makes me want to make some napkins, and I don’t even sew.
The fabric is so FUN! And thank you for the patterns too. I am feeling inspired to start making some Christmas gifts!
Just what I was looking to see today! I really hope you know how much this means to me. I’m thrilled someone took the time to write about it. Any chance I could contribute to this? I really hope so. I’ve bookmarked your page here and will be back. Also visited some of your sponsors, good stuff. I hope you visit my site about Christmas sometime soon and return the favor. Have a sunshine and roses day.
Hi. I just made 9 napkins out a $1 tablecloth I got at a yardsale. I made the mitered corners and they came out pretty good. Thanks for all the tips and good pictures of each step.