Cloth Napkin Rings

I finally got tired of looking at my Fall/Winter cloth napkins this week. I pulled out my enormous stash of fabric and began looking for spring-looking scraps that were big enough for napkins. I found some and began cutting them out (Word for the wise – as soon as you set your rotary cutter down, close it. I sliced my thumb making these napkins. Ick.). Almost immediately, I noticed they weren’t all going to be the same size because the scraps weren’t all the same size. It didn’t matter to me. I made them all the same length and then varied the width. After all, they’re just napkins. I sewed them up in one nap time.

Once I was finished, I was stumped with what to do with them. When folded they would all be different sizes and wouldn’t stack nicely, like the Fall ones did. I didn’t want to just cram them in the basket – they sit in the middle of the table. I’ve been wanting to use napkin rings for a while, so I thought now was the perfect opportunity. I haven’t used them all this time because the only set I have are fancy-looking, and we aren’t fancy meal-time people. Also, I  was interested in having three unique napkin rings so each family member had their own napkin. So … here’s what I did:

For each napkin ring you’ll need:

• (1) 1.5X6″ piece interfacing
• (1) 4×6″ piece of fabric
• Needle & thread/Sewing machine
• Iron/Ironing board

Bring your interfacing and fabric to your ironing board. Fold the piece of fabric in half lengthwise and press it with the iron. Open it back up and on the wrong side, fuse the interfacing to one side along the center crease. There should be another 1/2″ of fabric sticking out on the other side of it. Fold that little edge over onto the interfacing and iron it. Now, fold the other side over a 1/2″ and then the whole thing in half along the original crease. Iron it. It should fold like this:

Sew along each edge, lengthwise. You can finish off the raw edges if you want to – I didn’t. Next, sew the ends together to form a ring. Be sure the ring is the size you want. The 6″ length gives you some room. I think mine are about 5 inches. Then trim very closely to your stitching and turn it right-side out.

A few months ago I inherited hundreds of old buttons from my dear grandmother that passed away. In her memory I’ve been trying to use things of hers in my home. The buttons on my rings are from that collection. Another idea to personalize them would be to embroider them. Although, if you use a different fabric for each person, then that may be all the personalizing you need.

Why I do what I do ~ I was letting Chloe pick out a movie to watch the other day. She told me she wanted The Ampully. I must have asked her to repeat it 3 times and I still didn’t get it. Her speech is very clear now so it’s unusual that I’d have a difficult time understanding. Noticing that I wasn’t getting it, she began to explain the movie and I immediately understood. The Ampully = The Ant Bully. I must say it all together quickly, so it sounds like one weird word to her. Have you liked Domestic Cents on Facebook yet?

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Tagged as: Crafts, Frugal Living, Green Living, Sewing