Handmade napkins with a vintage twist

Thread, my favorite fabric store, occasionally has Tutorial Tuesdays.  This is where they pick a night and provide instructions and a discount on fabrics.  I already know how to sew and can certainly find plenty of tutorials online, but it's so inspiring to see some of these projects and fabric possibilities come together in person!

The first one I went to was a tutorial about making napkins.  I don't often use cloth napkins at home, maybe on special occasions, but with the wonderful selection of fabrics, I may start using them every day!  They also work well as basket liners for breads or muffins.  Or as a liner in any container on the countertop or shelf.

The most exciting thing about this Tutorial Tuesday is that she showed us how to select several fabrics to coordinate.  If you want the matchy matchy look, where all the napkins are made from one design, go for it.  But if you want an eclectic, or shabby chic, or just a different front and back they showed us how to select the fabrics.  So this was one of my first attempts at choosing coordinating fabric.

At the end of the day, if you like what you've chosen, then that's all that matters.

Since I had a certain purpose in mind for these, the colors I wanted for this set are red, yellow, and green.

I had some vintage looking fabric and matched it up with a more contemporary design.

I would like to have had more red, but the red fabrics were really bright reds and just weren't coming together with the shades of green and yellowish gold.

Instead of making them all different, I decided two matching napkins of each combination might make a nice table setting for 2, 4 or 6 people.

Tie them together to make a gift set.

I enjoyed making these so much, now I can't wait to start on the blue and brown set.   And maybe some Christmas designs would be nice too.

I might be using a cloth napkin with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch!

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Chic On A Shoestring