More Napkins

The collection grows.

I've blogged about possibly my favorite thing to sew before, but last October, after I stopped blogging, I was charged with planning a baby shower!  I've never even helped plan a baby shower before (and sadly, somehow, I took no photos of the actual event), but I was very excited to make more. cloth. napkins.

All different vintage sheets.

I love vintage sheets so much.  This is the easiest project to showcase their beauty without dramatic alteration, that still allows for reinvention of something that has typically exhausted life in their first round.  Even a bed sheet with rips or stains can be resurrected as a set of napkins.

Tidy stitches.

And because they are so simple to sew-- really the iron does all the work here-- I can really crank them out.  I think I made 40+ napkins for this baby shower, and I used additional vintage sheets as table cloths.  I'm really kicking myself for not photographing the event.  I was positively giddy to be able to put my stash and favorite go-to project to use.  We also used the vintage sheet buntings that hung at my wedding.

Combinations.

My favorite combinations of fabrics are florals and geometrics.  Usually one side is busier than the other.  In my house, we know to wipe greasy hands on the busier side so any potential stains are more difficult to detect.  But a wash in warm water with Oxyclean has taken care of any lingering food marks these puppies have encountered so far.  We don't eat many meals where we're really messy (buffalo wings?  If only), but those would be the meals we would break out the stash of take-out napkins.

I'm glad to have a big set of these for future events.  Dare I say, I'd be eager to host another event if it meant I could use them?  And this is another item that I'd love to receive an Etsy request for at any time.  If you find yourself interested in switching to cloth napkins, or would just love a set of vintage sheet napkins, find me on Etsy and we can work out the details of your order.  These napkins finish up at 17" square, with turned edges and topstitching, but they could be made in any size or combination of fabric.

Did I mention they are also good for the environment?  They are zero-waste napkins!  In addition to preventing disposable napkins from being sent to the landfills, vintage sheet napkins also reinvent vintage sheets, almost all of which either are orphaned items (no fitted sheet or no pillowcases), or are salvaged (can no longer be bed sheets at all).  And, they are just darn pretty.