24 March 2011

Upcycled Reusable Napkins

While browsing the web a couple days ago, I came across a tutorial for reusable napkins and immediately set out to make some of my own.  This is what I came up with: ten 12" square napkins with hemmed edges.

Reusable Napkins
To be both thrifty and eco-friendly, I upcycled the fabric from a dress.  Since I don't have an abundance of huge dresses laying around that I wouldn't mind cutting up, my first step was to find one.  Lucky for me, the local Goodwill currently has lots of clothes on sale for just one dollar.  And that is where I found this beauty (imagine it with a long skirt--I got a little excited and cut it off before taking a picture)...


The Dress

Doesn't it just scream "I'm the fifth sister-wife"?  If it fit me, I might have paraded around in it a bit before cutting it to pieces.  Because it is always fun to dress up a little.

The next step was to cut the skirt into 12" blocks, a task made easier by the plastic square... no idea what it is called because I am a yarn person and not a quilter.  The skirt was made of three pieces seamed together, so I didn't get as much out of the fabric as I wanted.  A seam in the middle of a dinner napkin would have been a little odd and I had to waste a little of the fabric to cut around the seams.

Raw Square

Paper towels and napkins are not being kind to the Earth, and 10 reusable napkins cost only $1 to make.   I also bought an unopened bedsheet to make napkins out of, but it had a seriously funky smell to it--not something you want to wipe your face with.  For now, those 10 will probably be enough to get me through to the next laundry day, but I still am tempted to make more just because they are so cool.

Go Green! ;)

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