Bohemian Fringed Cotton Dinner & Cocktail/Buffet Napkins

                                                        

 Recently my friend, Debbie, and I sorted through a large bag of fabric given to us by another friend.  The lady was elderly and sadly, just didn’t see well enough to sew any longer.  In my share of the fabrics was quite a bit of this heavy, cotton, linen-like fabric, both in bright, raspberry  pink & a nice spring green.  It reminded me of the fabric used to make Indian saris.  I wasn’t sure what to make of it, so I put the fabric aside until I came up with an idea….and this is it-


The fabrics had been cut into a few large pieces, so I was only able to cut four 22” squares for the dinner napkins of each color.  The remaining fabric I cut into 12” squares for the smaller, cocktail napkins.  Since the fabric has a woven stripe, I had to be sure that I had the same number of stripes on each square.  Also, the fabric was much the same on both sides, so didn’t have to worry about the right or wrong side.  I began by pressing a 1” fold all the way around.
   

I used these pressed lines as a guide to stitch a slender & tight zig zag seam all the way around each square.  I stopped and pivoted at each corner, and back-stitched securely when the stitching met the beginning again. Then, I pulled out the threads to the stitched line to create the fringe.  This was a bit time consuming, but something to do while watching T.V.  The fabric was loosely woven, so it was pretty easy to pull apart.

I trimmed the fringe here & there, and it really fluffed-up after being washed. 

I liked the results, so I continued with the green sari fabric.

I had started making mitered corner dinner napkins from the green fabric.  But, it was very tricky to keep the miters corners sharp.  After making the first set of dinner napkins, I decided to make the rest with the fringed edges.

I think they are quite festive. both are nice, but I think I prefer the fringed version.

Well, that’s all for now.…!-Carole

Blogger Labels Tags: cloth napkins, dinner napkins, cocktail napkins, buffet napkins, casual napkins, Boho, bohemian, fringed napkins, tutorial, free pattern, easy patterns, cotton fabric, sewing pattern