Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Fun reversible napkins


I whipped up some reversible fruity napkins today using a fun, quick method that I found on the Moda Bake Shop site: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/picnic-for-two.html

The pattern was written by Marie at passingdowncrazy.wordpress.com and also includes instructions for placemats that sandwich scraps between clear vinyl.




Since sunny weather only hangs around a few months here, I try to always sew on the deck when we have a stretch of good weather. I loaded my supplies into one of my coiled baskets and headed outside!




These are so much easier than pressing all those raw edges under twice and then sewing. You just put two 18" squares of coordinating fabrics wrong sides together and sew together with a big X diagonally. Then sew around the edges. I steam-pressed my fabrics together first, then pressed diagonal creases to use as a sewing guide. No need for pins :) I also used a walking foot to feed both layers equally.

Then Marie said to trim the edges with a rotary cutter fitted with a wavy blade. You could use pinking shears instead, but that would take longer. Here they are, with the rasberry side flipped back to show the reverse side and the wavy edge. It'll probably ravel nicely in the wash for texture.


I'm making a bushel of these to give as gifts this summer!



P.S. Look what I found the next day! The sweetest rasberries I've ever tasted at the local Farmers Market, straight from Spooner Farm in Puyallup.

Have a colorful day



3 comments:

Judy Ferguson said...

These would be great for any summer party. Just bring out the food.

The Idaho Beauty said...

I don't suppose some of these are in the care package, are they? ;-) I miss having real napkins to use but Judi doesn't like using fabric napkins or placemats because "they get dirty and you have to wash them." Well, duh - yeah. That's the point. Amazes me since she's so eco-minded about so many other things. Besides, who's doing the laundry these days - me!

Sherrie Spangler said...

I agree with you -- I NEVER buy paper napkins, unless I'm having a huge party, which happens about once every five years at most.