Somewhat Quick and Easy Sewing Project

We have been using paper towels as napkins since we got here.  The time had come to change that.  The cloth napkins I saw in the store were not what I wanted so...I visited Heirloom Child Quilt Shop!  That store has been staring me down every time I drove by since the first time we were in Sumter back in June.  Finally I stopped in.

The ladies in there,  both the proprietress and the customers, were so very nice.  I was directed to their sale credenza where I found some perfectly acceptable fabric.  I got four one-yard cuts and while she was cutting I saw MUCH MORE fabric I wanted to buy.  You can imagine how hard it was to let it go, but I did it...walking out with only that purchase.

Once home I washed and dried the fabric then ironed it flat. Because not all things are currently in a state of perfect organization, I had to use my paper cutting shears for the first few cuts.  Soon I made a more concerted search for the Ginghers then made much cleaner nicer cuts for the remaining pieces.

First cut was across the folded and pressed horizontal line.

Next I cut off one selvedge on each piece.

Third I folded up one corner to the opposite corner making a square, which I cut out.  Now I had a template and cut the other 15 squares which were approximately 18 inches by 18 inches.

At this point I changed my mind:  I had planned to have the two sides of each napkin to be different but decided instead to have them both the same, so I laid out 8 napkins with right sides together then stitched around all four edges leaving a 2-3-inch section unstitched for turning right side out.

After the stitching I turned the napkins right side out, pulled out the corners to some extent, and pressed the edges as flat as possible.

Now came the tedious, eye-opening part: closing up the openings! I say eye-opening because this did not used to be a difficult job.  Now I fought with the needle opening and had to move up to a larger-eyed needle which was not ideal but necessary.  The thread was some European thread which had no body so it was not the easiest to get through even the large eye, but did finally work.  It turns out my close-work is nowhere nearly as attractive as it once was, and it was never great, at that!  Well, I did get them all closed.

Napkins ready for close-work/handwork closures

At that point Dear One asked if he could turn off the electricity to the workroom to install a fan light for me.  Heck Yeah!!!!  So we prepared to use the napkins with no top-stitching.

The fan light project was completed VERY FAST (less than one afternoon!!) and now I have a heavenly fan to run in the room.  Even though the easy chair is in Dear One's room so we can sit companionably together in the evening and watch various tv programs, I still like the workroom better for sitting when it is just myself.  So glorious to have a constant breeze available.

Anyway, the next day I did actually top-stitch around the edges and now feel like the napkins are complete.  I am edgy to go back and get some more fabric but I think I will wait for a bit on that!!  Even in the sale shelving, the fabric was not cheap. (Well, that was the point of shopping there in the first place: I hate cheap fabric.) However, the napkins should last for years as opposed to other places in town where I could buy fabric and make napkins that would probably last for a year or two.