DIY Green Handmade Cloth Napkins

I knew right from the beginning of planning my wedding reception that I would not be using paper napkins.  Yes, we are having a relatively laid back outdoor wedding.  But, I would never want to waste that much paper.

I also knew that I would be making them.  I didn't want to rent them because I knew I could make them for the same price as renting them, plus I could make them any size, color, pattern, etc. that I wanted.

Not to mention the added extra benefit of having a crap load of cloth napkins for myself after the wedding.  No more paper napkins for us - ever!

To a lot of my non-DIY pals, this seems pretty crazy.  But I'm sure that a lot of my DIY and planet-loving pals out there understand. 

I have made these cloth napkins before.  They are fine for around the house, but not quite right for my wedding reception.

I ended up using the Shiny Happy World free tutorial to make my napkins.  The only change I made was I made mine 16 x 16.  12 was too small and I tried 18, which was too big.  16 inches seems just about perfect.  Follow her directions (and don't skip all the ironing, it makes it them so much easier!) and you, too can have gorgeous cloth napkins!

So far my progress hasn't been too great (as you can see by the small pile of napkins!)  But this weekend I'm taking my sewing machine to my mom's and we're going to have dualing sewing machines and knock them out!

New Fun Blog Weekly Feature

I want to introduce to you a new weekly feature on the blog! Each week I am going to bring you a tip for greener living. I am a firm believer that tiny steps can have big impact if we all stick together. Maybe one recycled can doesn't make a huge difference, but if everyone recycled one can, it does make a difference!

I hope to bring lots of really easy tips, maybe some you already do (great!) and maybe some you hadn't thought about.

This week, I want to remind you of a great tip that Debbie from My Aunt Debbie gave us a few months ago!

Use cloth napkins!

Really think about the amount of paper napkins you use and how much waste you could save by not using them! And cloth napkins are so much prettier and make any meal feel a little more special!

You can find them at Good Will or even make your own!

Think of the possibilities! And how cute they can be! I am thinking about making personalized napkins for each family member, instead of matching sets.

This is something so simple and easy, too. They don't take up much extra space in your laundry to wash.

Honestly, I made one set of cloth napkins, and then didn't use them again. I am publicly announcing my intentions here to use cloth napkins from now on!

Who's with me?

Cloth Napkin Tutorial

Last Thursday, My Aunt Debbie gave us an easy tip to be a little more "green" and kind to the earth: use cloth napkins. I think this is a fabulous tip, so I set about to make my own cloth napkins.

I found a great cloth napkin tutorial, which I have tried out. The best parts are the lovely corners!


I am by no means a great seamstress, and this tutorial was very easy for me.

I was going to give you the step-by-step here, but really, the Tammy's Times Tutorial is really good, so I will just direct you there.

If you don't want to make your own napkins, then you can check out your local thrift stores for cloth napkins.

My plan is to make a bunch of these that are personalized for each member of my household to make it a little more fun. I also think they would make a great gift!