Making homemade napkins.

First of all, let me say thank you so much for all the lovely and encouraging comments I received on yesterday's post. I really, truly appreciate it, and you all made me feel much better about where I am right now. :)

So today I was in the mood to do something self-sufficient-ish. I decided on making homemade napkins. I have wanted to make some cloth napkins for a while now, but I couldn't find any that were affordable at the thrift store (really, the Value Village near me is ridiculously expensive), and I wasn't sure what I could make them out of. I knew I wanted it to be something soft and absorbent, and preferably free.

Finally I figured out what to do. I had an old cotton tablecloth that my grandmother had given me. It was already quite old when she gave it to me, and at our house it's been washed and used so many times that it had developed a few holes (see picture below). And it had some pretty bad stains, too. But I was able to cut 5 good sized squares out of the good areas.

That part was easy. After that, the frustrations began. First of all, this fabric was so old and worn and soft that it was very hard to work with! It was difficult even to press the hems, it just kept rolling all over the place. And while I was doing that, I accidentally melted my new seam gauge with the iron. I was trying to make mitered corners, using these instructions, but I accidentally cut way too much fabric off the first corner...No big deal I thought, on to the sewing, which is the fun part! But then when I was trying to fold over the messed up corner and sew it, my needle broke. I put in a larger size of needle, and then that one immediately broke! (I'm not sure why...are the really cheap needles really not able to go through several layers of fabric?) I put in one more needle and that one allowed me to finish the first napkin, but alas, by then the baby was crying...so after about an hour of work, I only had one napkin complete.

Well, at least it's a start!

(Before taking this picture, I carefully hid the one mutilated looking corner!)

I thought making napkins out of such an old tablecloth was a great idea, but I think next time, I won't bother doing this with something so very old, because such worn and thin fabric is so challenging to work with. Lesson learned.

Comments

[Karen Wirth]

Honestly, sewing machine needles are terrible now! I finally resorted to buying some rather expensive ones especially designated for quilters.
Nice looking napkins. It sure is hard to find nice napkins that aren't that awful polyester stuff isn't it? I have a couple of old table cloths in the cupboard, think I'll haul them out and have a go as well. Thanks for the inspiration!
Karen

[Aparks08]

I had the same problem with my needles. I was buying Singer brand because that is the brand of sewing machine I have. As it turns out, their needles are horrible. I work at a costume shop and I was complaining to my boss about it (she is my sewing Wonder Woman) and she gave me a few of her Gingher needles. I had laboriously sewn through a few layers of fabric with the Singers and went through and entire package of needles. It's been over a year and I'm still using the same Gingher needle. Definitely worth the extra cost.

[Sonja]

Some days are just like that, aren't they? hopefully today will be better. I use the same technic for mitered corners. That is a good tutorial.

[Shannon]

A lot of people think Value Village (The Canadian division of "Savers" in the US) as a charity but in fact it's not. When we give our clothes and items to them, we are simply supplying a corporation with free items to mark up and profit off of. Kind of a bummer, eh? :(

[Leah]

Well one napkin is better than no napkins! My philosophy towards accomplishing any kind of handiwork project with little ones about is to just commit a few minutes here and there. A few stitches, a seam or two...eventually it will add up. I've been pleasantly surprised how many little projects can get done this way!

[Laura Jeanne]

Thanks for the tip...I guess I'll be going back to the fabric store soon to get the expensive needles. I did manage to finish 4 more napkins today though, with a needle I found in my sewing box which was an older one.

[Laura Jeanne]

I'm glad to hear others have had problems with the cheap needles, and I'm not just doing something wrong. I"ll be buying some better ones very soon!

[Lise]

Sounds like one of my sewing projects! Good for you for accomplishing even one; it's hard to carry on when something seemingly "easy" is so frustrating. It'll be great to have them, though, and great to still be able to use your grandmother's tablecloth. (Good to read all the comments about needles. Thought it was just me...)

[Jacki]

what a good idea to use an old table cloth. I've got some estate sale fabric I intend to use for napkins but I can't figure out what size to make them! Luckily, I have a serger and will make rolled hems on them. (I buy my needles at Atlanta Thread Company and through fabric and notions co-ops on Yahoo.groups..organ and schmetz.) I don't have a lot of needle breakage, but I do change my needles regularly to avoid damaging my fabric. Good luck on your remaining napkins!.