Sunday, April 30, 2017

Sewing Napkins Picking Daisies Style

Welcome to our online tutorial for sewing dinner napkins with mitered corners. This is the same method we use here at Picking Daisies for our signature dinner napkins.

Gather your supplies (*We have kits available which include these items)

Sewing Machine
Iron
Cutting Mat
Ruler
Rotary Cutter
Scissors

*Cotton Quilt-weight fabric 44" wide (1.75 yards makes 6 dinner napkins)
*Coordinating polyester thread
*Fabric Marking Pen
*Point Turner
*(optional) 1/2" x 20"+ template for ironing hems 




 
Pre-wash, dry and iron your fabric to prepare for cutting.
Once ironed, fold selvage to selvage on the cutting mat. 




Using your ruler and template, cut through the two layers of fabric to make two 20" squares.  Repeat for the remaining fabric until you have cut out all of your 20" squares.

Making cocktail napkins?  Cut 12.5" squares.





Working with one square of fabric at a time, iron your hems on all four sides as follows...








Grab your fabric marker and open up an ironed corner.  
Working from the wrong side of the fabric....









Using a point turner, carefully, yet thoroughly,
turn those corners out to make them nice and square.


You are now ready to sew the final seam around the perimeter of the napkin.  We just start right in, but if you are new to sewing napkins, you might find it helpful to re-iron or perhaps, pin down the seams first.




About 1/8" from the folded edge (or closer if you are brave!), and without back stitching, sew around the entire perimeter of the napkin, stopping with your needle down at each corner seam so that you can raise your sewing foot to turn the corner.



When you reach the spot where you began, rather than back stitching, just carefully sew about 1/2" down right over the seam where you started sewing.

 
If you have an edge-stitch or stitch-in-the-ditch foot, experiment using it to give you more accurate straight lines.  

Have fun including some personalized labels to make these your own signature napkins.










15 comments:

  1. Love the store, the napkins are such a fun idea. I can't wait to make some, this tutorial is great help.

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    1. Thanks so much Angela - please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments about the tutorial. Best, Kay

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  2. This is great I picked up a pack of the napkins ready to sew. How do I make the 1/2 template for ironing? what did you use for your template?
    Thanks,
    Donna

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    1. Hi Donna - we simply cut inexpensive poster board into 1/2" strips. We sell them as part of our "Napkin Making Tool Kit", but it is so easy to do yourself. :-)

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  3. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! On my vacation, I visited your store and purchased fun fabrics and your tool-making kit. On the top of my get-to-do list today is making Halloween napkins!

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    1. I hope those Halloween napkins are in full swing production by now! :-)

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  4. Your tutorial is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. This is going to make sewing napkins so much more professional and easy.

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  5. SO much fun to make these! Thank you for the helpful directions and for sharing your expertise! What a great project to finish in an afternoon while enjoying beautiful fabric!

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  7. I saw your shop in the recent Sampler magazine, including the link to the napkins tutorial. Thanks so much! I plan to make some for myself and for Christmas gifts.

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    1. Thanks TerryAnn! I hope your napkin making has been going well. :-)

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  8. Do you actually cut your squares 20" or do you cut 21" so you end up with a 20" square napkin?

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    1. We cut them at 20", which give us an 18"+ finished napkin.

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  9. I should have read these instructions prior to making 50 cocktail napkins. Oh well, now I know better. Thanks

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  10. What a wonderful way to dress-up your dinner table any way you'd want it to be!! Thank you so much for sharing how to do make your napkins! Must absolutely try these! If I were just a bit closer, I'd get one of your napkin kits! 😊Grazie mille!!

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