How to Sew Napkin Corners
Cloth napkins can add beauty and class to any dining table. Give your table setting an instant boost with colorful fabric napkins that coordinate with your dishes and other table decor. By making your own cloth napkins, you can choose the fabric and create the napkins you desire for a fraction of the price of ready-made napkins. Take care to sew napkin corners neatly, squaring or mitering the corners to give the napkins a professional appearance.
Things You'll Need
- Linen or cotton fabric
- Tape measure
- Scissors
- Iron
- Sewing machine
- Matching or contrasting thread
Instructions
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Square Corner Napkins
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1
Measure and cut one 17-inch square out of the linen or cotton fabric for each napkin.
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2
Place a fabric square on a flat work surface with the wrong side facing up. Fold up 1/4-inch around each of the four sides and press these folds well with the iron. Fold up another 1/4-inch around each of the four sides and press these folds again.
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3
Place the napkin into the sewing machine with the wrong side facing up. Stitch along the inside folded edge, approximately 1/8-inch away from this edge. Stop stitching at the corners, turn the 90-degree corner and continue stitching to the next corner. Continue stitching until you sew around the napkin edge completely.
Mitered Corner Napkins
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4
Measure and cut one 17-inch square out of the linen or cotton fabric for each napkin.
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5
Place the fabric square on a flat work surface with the wrong side facing up. Fold up 1/4-inch around each of the four sides and press these folds well. Fold up another 1/4-inch around each of the four sides and press these folds again.
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6
Unfold the folds at a corner. Examine the fold lines at the corner. You should see the point where the first 1/4-inch folds intersect at the corner. Make a diagonal cut just slightly below the point where the two folds intersect. Fold the cut diagonal edge of the corner down so the cut edge touches the point where the second 1/4-inch folds intersect at the corner. Press this fold. Repeat this process with each corner.
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7
Fold in the two sides of fabric on each side of the corner along the press lines you already made so they meet at the center of the folded diagonal edge. This neatly miters the corner. Press the mitered corner. Repeat this process with each corner.
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8
Place the napkin into the sewing machine with the wrong side facing up. Stitch about 1/8-inch away from the inside folded edge. When you reach a corner, stop stitching at the corner, turn a 90-degree angle at the corner and continue stitching to the next corner. Continue stitching until you sew all the way around the napkin.
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1
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
