The Mothercraft: Back-to-School Cloth Napkins!
For a while now I’ve been otherwise distracted by the knitting and crochet portion of my job, so it’s been a long time since posting The Mothercraft feature. Recently however, my youngest started pre-k which required a little crafty prep that I thought I’d share with you. The school she’s attending follows the Montessori program which requests that lunches be packed in a manner that creates little to no waste — this means the replacement of (our usual) paper towels with small, reusable cloth napkins. I’m all for this rule but, unfortunately most of the cloths available in stores are too large for a wee lunch box. No worries though, napkins are super simple to make, and are a great way to use up some of those fabric scraps. Here’s how!
Supplies
Approx. 1/3 yd of cotton or cotton blend fabric
12″/30.5 cm quilter’s square & rotary cutter OR
12″/30.5 cm square paper bag pattern & scissors
Straight pins
Needle & thread
Sewing machine
Finished Measurements:
11 1/2″/29 cm square
How-to:
- Cut out two, 12″/30.5 cm pieces of fabric.
- OPTIONAL: Machine or hand embroider child’s name on one piece of fabric, taking care to leave room for seam allowances.
- With right-sides together and using a 1/4″/6.25 mm seam allowance, sew pieces together; leave an opening for turning.
- Snip corners with scissors.
- Turn right-sides out.
- Press seams, turning raw edges of opening under to match line.
- Using a 1/4″/6.25 mm seam allowance, top stitch to close opening and around the entire perimeter of the napkin.
- Press again if necessary.
That’s all there is to it — easy as the organic, whole grain and locally sourced fruit pie your kiddos may need to wipe from their mouths! 😉
xx,
Vickie
