DIY FABRIC NAPKIN TUTORIAL
A great way to save money on paper products and start to go zero-waste is to sew earth-friendly cloth napkins. This tutorial will show you how to sew a super simple everyday cloth napkin. Sewing your own fabric napkins is fun and is an easy sewing project for beginners.
![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - FB]()
Another money-saving and zero-waste paper product idea is to make and use unpaper towels instead of expensive disposable paper towels. Keep them handy for drying hands, cleaning up spills and more. This tutorial will show you how to make unpaper towels by repurposing old towels.
At the end of this article are more zero waste projects for your home (i.e. grocery tote bag, produce bag, t-shirt yarn, and more).
Let's get back to making cloth napkins! Learn more about making them by watching our video or keep reading this post for a photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions.
PRINTABLE PDF TUTORIAL - This tutorial is available as an ad free printable version in our book "12 Easy Sewing Patterns". You can get
a copy of the book for FREE through this link, Free Book Offer. The book is also available for purchase from our Etsy Shop listing 12 Easy Sewing Patterns Book #ad.
Keep reading for a free version of this tutorial.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. We make a small commission on sales through the affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for your purchase and your support! Please see our full Affiliate
Statement for more information.
HOW TO make CLOTH NAPKINs
The napkin, you will learn today, is the most common way store-brought napkins are finished. Of course, you can purchase fabric but these napkins can be a great fabric stash buster project if you use pretty fabric from your scrap bin.
No time to sew napkins but you want to be part of the planet-friendly movement. You can purchase basic and cute cloth napkins at Etsy or at Amazon.
![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Finished Placesetting]()
WHAT YOU NEED to make the cloth napkin:
- Fabric
- Rotary Cutter, Ruler and Mat (Or Scissor and Ruler)
- Sewing Gauge Guide
- Thread
- Sewing Machine
- Iron and Ironing Board
![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Supplies]()
INSTRUCTIONS for diy cloth napkins
STEP 1: Fabric Preparation
For the best result, you should prewash/preshrink the fabric. If you want to prevent fraying when you wash the fabric, check out our tutorial.
Once the fabric is washed, iron the fabric to remove wrinkles.
STEP 2: Cutting Fabric For The Cloth Napkin
After the fabric is washed and ironed, with a rotary cutter or scissor and ruler, cut an 18” x 18” square of fabric.
STEP 3: Cut Corners
When hemming the napkin, the corners would be very bulky and thick if you left the corners intact. To reduce the bulkiness, a small portion of each corner of the napkin will be cut off.
To do this, with a sewing gauge fold each corner toward the center ½” and press. ![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Measure Corner]()
Cut along the crease line with a scissor. ![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Cut Fabric]()
After cutting the other corners off, your napkin will look like this. ![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Corners Clipped]()
STEP 4: Fold, Iron, Pin and Stitch the Napkin
A nice, crisp, neat hem is essential in finishing the napkin. There are lots of different types of hemming techniques out there. This napkin will be finished using a double fold hem.
What is a double fold hem?
A double fold hem is the most basic hem that is used for a wide variety of projects. You can use it when hemming clothing, curtains, tablecloths and other sewing projects. This hem technique means folding the hem to the wrong side of the fabric twice.
The napkin will be hemmed one side at a time.
To hem the first side, place the fabric on the ironing board with the wrong side up, using your handy dandy sewing gauge, fold the fabric toward the wrong side ½”. Use an iron to press the hem firmly in place.
Fold the fabric 1/2" toward the wrong side again, press and pin it in several places to hold it secure.
Before beginning to sew the hem, it is important to think about the bobbin thread. The color in the bobbin will be visible on the front of the napkin.
![Everyday Cloth Napkin Tutorial - Sew]()
To hem this first side, simply edgestitch along the inside fold, backstitching at the beginning and end. Our edgestitch tutorial may be helpful.
STEP 5: Repeat
Repeat step 4 on the other three sides.
Turn the fabric clockwise or counter-clockwise, fold the fabric 1/2" toward the wrong side, press, fold under again ½”, press, pin and edgestitch.
The above photo shows the back of the napkin.
After hemming all sides, the napkin is done! Kids would love using cloth napkins when sewn out of kids fun themed fabric. With holiday prints, you can whip up napkins in no time to create a festive table.
Once you know this technique, you can use it to make tablecloths and table toppers and many other sewing projects.
We hope you enjoyed this DIY coth napkin tutorial and decide to make some for your home. Check out our DIY Kitchen Projects Pinterest Board for lots of sewing, machine embroidery and quilting projects for the kitchen.
If you are into recycling, repurposing and reusing, you may be interested in our Recycling Craft Projects Pinterest Page.
Happy Sewing!
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about this project, contact us through the YouTube Video
comments or our Contact Us page. We respond to questions in e-mails and YouTube comments regularly.
Other zero-waste tutorials
Supporting Products and links: Some of the links below may be affiliate links.
We make a small commission on sales through the affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance
for your purchase and your support! Please see our full Affiliate
Statement for more information.