 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
After making some cute crochet napkin rings last month, I thought it might be nice to show you how to make the pretty little napkins to go with them. Although a basic square should be a simple matter, I want to show you a great trick for getting really professional and neat mitred corners.
Not only will this technique give your napkins a touch of class, you’ll soon find plenty of other projects that can make use of the same technique.
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
What You’ll Need:
- 16-by-16-inch pieces of pretty fabric (You can use one fabric for all the napkins or different fabrics for each one.)
- Contrasting thread
Step 1
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Cut your fabric to 16-by-16 inches. With the wrong side of the fabric facing up, fold over the raw edge so you have a 1/4-inch hem.
Step 2
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Fold the fabric over again so the raw edge is hidden underneath; pin in place. Don’t worry if your hem isn’t exactly 1/4 inch; it’s more important to get them even. (It’ll pay off later!)
Step 3
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Repeat steps 1 and 2 on each side of the square. Press the hems into place.
Step 4
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Once the fabric has cooled, take out the pins and unfold the fabric. You should have nice lines impressed on your fabric. Now, we’re going to cut off the corner, using those lines as a guide.
Step 5
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Cut a diagonal line across the corner, intersecting the corners squares (as shown in step 4). You can see in this picture how it should look.
Step 6
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Fold the corner in on the diagonal, using the line as shown.
Step 7
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Here’s how it’ll look once the fold has been made. Repeat steps 5 to 7 each corner.
Step 8
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Now all we need to do is re-fold the hems back into position while keeping this corner fold in place. The edge of each corner will now have a nice clean angle.
Step 9
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Once the hems on both sides of the corner are re-folded, pin the corners to keep that beautiful neat mitre in place for sewing.
Step 10
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
If you want, you can use a contrasting colored thread. I wanted the contrasted thread to show at the front to make a feature, so I loaded my bobbin with the bold colored cotton. If you don’t want the thread to be apparent on the front, use a like-colored thread instead.
Step 11
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Carefully sew along your seams, as closely as you comfortably can to the inside edge. Aim for a 1/16- to 1/8-inch seam, taking care at the corners to sew right up to the center point of the mitre. Then turn the fabric to sew along the next seam edge.
Step 12
 Photo by Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart |
Work your way around the napkins, securing the thread at the end. When you’re done, your corners should look like this.
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Get more crafts from the Craft Hub:
- Homemade Natural Deodorant
- DIY Recipe Suggestion Chalkboard
- DIY Itchy Stix for Bug-Bite Relief
- DIY Gardener’s Apron
- Rose Lotion Bars
| About Sandra Paul Sandra is a stay-at-home Mum living in a small village in England. She spends her days sewing, crocheting, knitting, pottering around the house and garden, and trying to pretend that housework doesn’t exist so that she can use the time to craft and write her blog. Look for her sewing and crochet projects for the home and garden each month on The Craft Hub and visit her at Cherry Heart to see more of her work. |
