The Cloth Napkin Project

I am suddenly hellbent on making cloth napkins--not just a set, but a whole friggin buttload of them. And why not? I mean, we can lessen our paper towel useage, and cloth napkins are so much lovelier. They are what our grandparents used growing up, are friendlier to our earth, and are so, so much lovelier. So, I have this plan to make cloth napkins all summer--different materials, different styles, some simple, some a bit embellished. And this is where I began...I chose reproduction 1930's feedsack patterns (many of them from the Aunt Grace line--you can find some fabrics from this collection at Reprodepot--found here)--and ric-rac for the edges. I wanted something that actually did remind me of my Grandma Keller and all of her sweet sisters. I also chose to back these with some white muslin--just to give them a nice heft, and to make them a little sturdier which could be good for picnic use.And while I love the look of ric-rac, I also hate working on it because I always seem to sew it in wopperjawed. But this is the solution I found:

1. First, I bought all fat quarters for these (and cut the muslin to fit each). I sewed the rickrack on the front side of the fabric, a half inch from the edge, all the way around.
2. Then I pinned the muslin and the patterned fabrics together, right sides facing in, and sewed them together along the stitching where I sewed in the rickrack--leaving a 4 inch slot open so I could turn it right side out.
3. Then I turned it right side out, pressed it all neat and flat, and sewed around the edge again, about 1/2 inch in. Napkin done.

So, I have one set of 8 napkins complete...my plan is to make about 30 or so more so we can use our napkins with wild abandon and not worry about doing laundry every second. Yeah, I am serious about this cloth napkin business...