"Fork You! I will not use my napkin."

As chief laundry wench I get tired of watching my toads smear their greasy little everythings all over their clothes.  I also don't seem to have enough room in my cupboard to keep enough adult sized fabric napkins for their prolific messes and I hate disposable paper products.

So 1 free afternoon and voila, 16 napkins!

I'd gone into my sewing box to get out some materials for mending my go to art apron.  In the box was an old jammy onsesie both the toads had worn.  It was super cute, flannel and somehow they looked like little winter bunnies in it.  I'd kept it to turn it into something.  Who knew what but several years later it was still there.  That morning daddy toad and I had a napkin talk and so I looked at it with napkins on the mind and off I went.

Upon the return of the toads I got an unsolicited "Thank you for the napkins mommy.  They're really nice." and, "The napkins are awesome."  Who knew all it took was fabric scraps to get such manners and compliments.

If you'd like to make your own, they're super easy.  Cut out a rectangle of heavier fabric like flannel or soft canvas.  Cut another of the same size in a contrasting fabric.  Sew the pieces together, right sides out with two passes of zig zag stitch.  Add a pocket - that's the key to the napkin love.  Cut a small rectangle approximately 3" x 5", turn 1/2" seam allowance to the inside.  Press with hot iron.  Position the pocket so that one of your forks sits fully on the napkin rather than over the top edge.  Topstich the pocket to the napkin.

You can also do all of the above with a finished edge.  Before you sew the two pieces together, press in a 1/2" seam allowance.  Pin and stitch edges and then add your pocket.

A slightly fancier version involves a rectangle of the heavier fabric and a rectangle of the contrasting fabric cut 1" bigger on all sides.  With right sides out, center the smaller piece on the contrasting color.  Fold 1/2" in and press.  Turn that fold in and press.  Zig zag the fold down and you've got a bordered napkin.  Add your pocket.  I wouldn't win any tailoring prizes with these as I was focusing on quantity rather than quality so if you have sewing skills please apply those to the directions.

Older toad is now old enough to share his own opinions of your work.  He commented on how my work was a creative use of throw away materials which I really appreciated that he noticed.  There's a couple of books we have along the theme of "you can always make something out of nothing".  The first being the source of that quote - Simms Taback's Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.


Another book I appreciate is Handmade Home by Amanada Blake Soule.  This book is several years old and has been well reviewed but my personal input is along the lines of this blog post.  I really appreciate the repurposing of materials that she encourages.

So if you've got scraps laying around they can always be turned into hugs!

I've shared this post:
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Repurpose My Life
Southern Lovely 
The Southern Institute