Cloth Napkins

During Advent we did a "fancy dinner" with china, crystal, and cloth napkins (they were white, now they are white with pizza stains....I'm not so good in the stain department). The girls loved the napkins and a green light clicked on in my head. My mom made cloth napkins before green was in. I loved setting the table because I would give myself the prettiest napkin. Bright colors just make me happy.

I had a store credit for a home store so went looking for some kid-friendly (dark) cloth napkins. They were all HUGE. So....I bought a table cloth. I lucked out because the pattern has squares in it which made it super easy to cut up. I made them twice the size of a paper napkin so they are workable for kids, fit on their laps, but are plenty big for messy adults. The in-store cloth napkins are way to big to manage. Most of the pieces had a side or two already hemmed so the hemming went quickly. Hemming does not require real sewing skills (just folding and sewing in a straight line) only a sewing machine. I got 21 cloth napkins out of a $7 clearance table cloth! It took me about 2 hours to hem them all. Emma bragged to her friend that was eating over that day "My mom made these just today all by herself!" That made it worth it right there! They are bright and colorful, match my fiesta ware and hide food stains well. AND there is one less thing I have to put in my grocery cart..and in the landfill :)

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