Thursday, April 21, 2011

Making Napkins and Tablecloth

I have a really long table in the dining room.  Tablecloths that are long enough are usually hard to find and often expensive.  The fabric on these store-bought versions has never been that great either.  After making napkins using directions in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, I decided to take Martha's advice and make the table cloth as well.  I've posted about my Martha mitered napkins before.  I dearly love them.  They are so very easy to make.  You iron squares of cloth and sew some straight lines.  You just cannot make a mistake with these! 
I did a white-on-white embroidery design, but these look elegant without a design as well.  Here is a pic of those awesome and so easy mitered corner.  The fabric is a medium-weight linen blend from Joann Fabric.  It washes beautifully and comes out of the dryer without wrinkles--a real plus!  
A 50% off coupon for the fabric got me over being nervous about dealing with a large piece of fabric for a tablecloth. The fabric I used was wide enough to give me enough overhang on the sides even after hemming.  I squared off the fabric and used the same ironing, pinning, and straight-line sewing used to make the napkins.  It was finished while watching television in one night. 
I left a fairly large overhang on the ends in case I lose my mind and buy an even longer table someday.  I chose to go with white because it goes with everything and fits every holiday.  To bring in color for some occasions, I'm making squares or runners to put on top--or not.  I saw this colorful light-weight linen blend with poppies while shopping for the white fabric and decided to make a Springy looking square to center on the table for Easter.
 

This poppy fabric requires ironing, but it irons well, looks like pure linen, and is so freaking pretty. I used a wider hem on this piece.  It is 1-1/2 inches folded twice instead of the half inch and one inch Martha suggests for the napkins.

Next on my agenda, is making some sets of these napkins to put aside for gifts.  Joann's has the medium-weight linen blend in a number of colors. Quick, easy, beautiful, inexpensive, AND good for the environment.  Happy Easter Y'all!

4 comments:

  1. wow looks pretty specially the center piece is beautiful

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  2. That looks great! I love cloth napkins, I might have to do this too:)

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  3. I have done the same. Most of my material are thrift finds so always looking for pretty fabrics that suggest a tablescape.I must check on doing the corners neatly.

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