Not-too-fancy Napkins

We've always been paper napkin people until recently.  Fabric napkins just seemed like something you only used at dinner parties - and we don't really host dinner parties.  However sewing a napkin was one of the first projects in Stitch by Stitch that I needed to complete before moving on to more complex projects.  I didn't really anticipate using the napkins I made but I was so proud to have made something functional that we used them for fun.  And that's when I realized - cloth napkins don't have to be fancy!  We don't have to worry about getting ketchup on them.  We can just use them like a normal napkin and then wash them and save some money.  Not exactly a world-altering idea but I was pretty excited.  So I started making more napkins out of fabric scraps - sometimes going through all the steps in Stitch by Stitch that ensure it is an even square and other times just sewing around the folded edges of an approximate square of cloth (these are non-fancy napkins after all!). 

Here's a few of them in a Longaberger basket from my Grandma:

The blue/brown fabric is from my circle skirt, the green plaid is from a set of napkins we had that were really big (which = fancy) so I just cut them in quarters and made normal-sized napkins out of them.  And the maroon is from an old t-shirt.  You can see in the picture that my stitching wasn't very straight but I was in a hurry and just wanted to whip up some napkins really fast so I didn't even iron or pin the edges down before sewing.  I made another set too from a really nice formal set of napkins from our wedding but the fabric wasn't very absorbent so they are stored in case we need them sometime (since we don't prefer them for every day use).  I really love saving some money and adding a fun splash of color to dinner time!