“Love is a great beautifier.”
~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Greetings dear ladies! I am excited to share this simple, simple concept with you all which will give you a dozen lovely new napkins with just a short amount of time. These "snip and rip" napkins don't require a sewing machine and are rather fun and addictive to make!
First, you will need a basic cotton flat sheet (or large piece of good absorbable fabric or even a huge tablecloth) and a pair of scissors. I used a twin flat sheet I found at the thrift store and it produced me with 12 napkins! A larger sheet would provide more and so forth.
Now, I won't be going into too much details as it will lose the fun. The basic concept of this tutorial is common sense. First, you will want to snip and rip off all 4 corners (edges) of the sheet (or fabric) in order to make it straight. To do this, you simply get near to the end of the sheet and do a one-inch snip. Then using your hands, you tear the sheet or fabric all the way down to the edge. Believe it or not, if the fabric is hearty, then this will give you a good straight end.
Snip and rip off all four corners of the sheet (the goal is to remove the hems on all sides). This will give you a perfect rectangle-sized fabric with frayed edges. I am keeping my edges for another project and will share that soon. You may want to do the same ♡
Next, I folded the sheet to see how many napkins I could get out of one "row". When I folded the longer part into three's, that seemed to give me an 18" napkin size that I liked. You can choose your own measurements. With that being said, I made 2 more snips of equal distance and turned the long side of the sheet into three equally sized long strips.
Next, I measured across the long strips and was able to measure out four complete square napkins from each strip. So, I measured 18 inches, did a snip and then a rip. This gave me one square napkin. I continued this with the rest of the sheet strips until I had a dozen. There was a bit of fabric left at the end of each strip that I have other plans for.
I'm hoping this makes sense! 😅
Basically, you are snipping and ripping the sheet into equally sized squares! I now have a pile of 12 squared 18x18" pieces of frayed fabric.
Next is the fun part! I did this at night while sitting with hubby on the couch. You simply pull away and unravel the threads around the napkin to get a nice evenly frayed edge. Once this is done on all the napkins, wash them and dry them a few more times (to release any excess threads) and repeat the thread-fraying process. Once you've done that they should "hold" and keep the nice edging without constantly needing to de-fray, etc.
And now you are left with a pretty pile of dinner napkins! Obviously you make these to taste. A calico fabric or sheet would make a homespun napkin. A geometric sheet or fabric would make a modern napkin. A large floral print would make a romantic napkin. I call mine "prairie napkins". There is something for everyone!
I purchased my second-hand twin sheet for $2 and was able to get 12 ample sized napkins from it. I would say that is a great deal! You may have sheets lying around in your cupboard and can do this for free. I would only suggest you use sturdy fabric with more natural fibers that absorb (polyester sheets/fabric would NOT be a good choice for that reason).
For those of you wanting to start a cloth napkin collection and reduce your paper towel purchases then this is a great project to get started on. I have a feeling I will end up with lots of new napkins for each season! I really adore how these turned out! They have such a prairie, cottage, shabby look to them that I love... Do you think these are something you would like to make?
Here are three other projects I made with the last of these sheet scraps!
Romantic Homemaking Series:
