{"id":12388,"date":"2013-07-03T01:00:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=12388"},"modified":"2013-07-02T16:26:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T20:26:12","slug":"how-to-make-cloth-dinner-napkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/03\/how-to-make-cloth-dinner-napkins\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Cloth Dinner Napkins \/ Placemats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ok, I will admit <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">it&#8230;I<\/span> DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SEW that good at all!!! \u00a0But by golly, I&#8217;ve always wanted to learn! I only know how to sew a baby blanket, and that&#8217;s as good as it gets!! \u00a0LOL \u00a0So today, I ran across a pattern that looked so amazingly simple even I could do it!! <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em><strong>And I did! \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Now for you who are awesome seamstresses, you may think &#8220;Dinner Napkins\/Placemats? Piece of cake!!&#8221; But for me, sewing does not come <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">easily<\/span>! It did for my grandmother and mother, but for some reason that creative gene has hidden itself in me, and is just now beginning to cause a stir in my heart; which I LOVE because I&#8217;ve always wanted to be creative like the two women in my life that I loved so very much! Their handiwork was simply amazing, and I&#8217;ve asked God, sort of secretly, in my heart for years to bless me with the ability to do some of the things that they did.<\/p>\n<p>So when I say that is BIG for me to show my handiwork to you, it truly IS! I&#8217;m like a little girl at Christmastime just waiting for you to open my gift to you, and I can&#8217;t wait to see your expression when you see it! Yea, I know, I seem to get a little too excited at times!! My husband reminds me of that often! LOL<\/p>\n<p>So without further adieu, here are the instructions to make your own Cloth Dinner Napkins\/Placemats.<\/p>\n<h2><em><span style=\"color: #800000;\">How to Make Cloth Dinner Napkins\/Placemats<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em><strong>Items Needed:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Materials<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>(to make 6 cloth napkins)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>12 fat quarters of quilting cotton (a fat quarter is an 18\u2033\u009d <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">x<\/span> 22\u2033\u009d piece of fabric found in most fabric stores for as little as $1)<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">scissors<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">ruler<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">chopstick<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">sewing<\/span> machine<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">coordinating<\/span> thread<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">iron<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Directions:<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Step 1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The directions I found instructed me to cut each fat quarter into a square measuring 18 inches x 18 inches. \u00a0Choose two fabrics that coordinate well with each other (I used just one piece of fabric) and place the two pieces of fabric right sides together. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">(For placemats\u00a0as seen below,\u00a0you will cut your fabric 11&#8243; x 18&#8243;, and then follow all of the steps below.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Step 2<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sew the squares together along the raw edges using a straight stitch and a 1\/4 inch seam allowance, backstitch both at the beginning and at the end of the stitch to secure it. Make sure to leave a 3 inch opening along one side for turning the napkin right side out.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Step 3<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Clip each corner to help give the napkin a nice pointed corner once turned right side out. Make sure not to clip the seam you just made!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Step 4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Turn the napkin right side out. Take a chopstick or other pointy-edged object and use it to help push out each corner to a nice point. \u00a0This is really a must for tight corners. \u00a0I used my fingers because I didn&#8217;t have any pointy object, and the corners turned out okay, but they could be better! \u00a0My first time&#8230;we&#8217;ll get by!! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Step 5<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Press the napkin with an iron, making sure to turn in the opening a 1\/4 inch.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Step 6<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">Topstitch<\/span> around the napkin by sewing a straight stitch and using an 1\/8 inch seam allowance, backstitch at both the beginning and end of the stitch to secure it. <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">Topstitching<\/span> will give the napkin a nice flat decorative finish as well as closing up the opening used for turning the cloth napkin right side out.<\/p>\n<p>The total time it took me to make the six cloth placemats\u00a0pictured below, including the cutting time, was a total of maybe an hour and a half! \u00a0That made me even more excited because I began to think of some awesome Christmas gifts I can give to my kids this year!!<\/p>\n<p>I hope you will give this simple pattern a try, and let me know how you did! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/cloth21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-12417\" alt=\"cloth2(1)\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/cloth21.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/cloth21.jpg 600w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/cloth21-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Enjoy your beautiful Cloth Dinner Napkins\/Placemats!!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ok, I will admit it&#8230;I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SEW that good at all!!! \u00a0But by golly, I&#8217;ve always wanted to learn! I only know how to sew a baby blanket, and that&#8217;s as good as it gets!! \u00a0LOL \u00a0So today, I ran across a pattern that looked so amazingly simple even I could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[9296,209,2664,425,2663,2665],"class_list":["post-12388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","tag-at-home-with-gch","tag-christi-wilson","tag-cloth-dinner-napkins","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-sewing","tag-sewing-cloth-dinner-napkins","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/cloth21.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3dO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12388"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12879,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388\/revisions\/12879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}