Beginner Sewer: DIY Cloth Napkin Tutorial

Thanksgiving is upon us! I’ve been brainstorming some ideas to wow my guests for Thanksgiving and some easy DIY cloth napkins seemed like a good start. I stopped by Jo-Ann Fabrics and picked up some seasonal fabric, including Christmas fabric. All you need is 1-2 yards of quilter’s fabric depending on how many napkins you want to make. The most time consuming process is the pinning or ironing if that’s something you do (I’m too impatient for that). Actually sewing each napkin takes less than 5 minutes. I whipped out 8 napkins in less than an hour last night. And to top it off, 8 napkins cost less than $10! My fabric was half off at $4.98/yard!

DIY Cloth Napkin Tutorial

1.

This is a step you can customize but for me I wanted my napkins to be about 16″ by 16″ give or take depending on the hem. I cut a square of fabric to 18″ by 18″ because I knew my hem was going to take about an inch off each side. You can cut this to whatever size you want your napkins to be. Just make sure you account for the hem.

2.

Next, fold one edge over by about .5″ and then fold over another .5″ and pin like shown. You want to fold twice so that you unfinished edge isn’t showing.

3.

Once you’ve folded under two opposite sides, you can start folding under the two sides left over. You will want to pay special attention to your corners and make sure everything folds to create a square. Here is what my finished corners looked like.

4.

Once all your edges are pinned you can start the sewing! I used a straight stitch with white thread and just sewed all the way around the edges. I made sure to stop at each corner, lift my foot, and turn 90 degrees. This helps to make sure your stitch looks professional on the corners. Here is a close up of my hem and DIY cloth napkin all finished and sewed.