Hanging around my office for about a year, was a stack of unfinished napkins. Washed, ironed and even pinned, ready to be sewn and yet… there they sat.
The thing about myself that I dodge on a regular basis is that I probably have too many interests which is why these napkins took 2 years from start to finish. I’m very excited that they are done, though! 4 Halloween themed ones, 4 that will be for anytime, and 5 from a Christmas pack of fabric squares.
Each year, over the last few years, I work on making a change that is more friendly to the environment and the napkins are part of this. I’d like to use fewer paper napkins.
One year I switched back to bar soap instead of buying bottles of body wash. I grew up on bar soap and there are a lot of stores that sell handmade soap now. Another year, I worked on cutting back on paper towel usage. Which is where these come in.
These are the remnants of a bottom fitted sheet that wore out and tore down the middle so I sat and spent about an hour cutting it down into different sized squares to use for rags. King sized sheets are really big!
One way I use them is when cooking dinner which cuts down on paper towel use. I use them the entire time I cook, sometimes for two meals depending on what was cooked and how heavy I used them.
The only downside after washing was all the strings that would come undone and need to be cut off. I would end up trimming them into oblivion. I forgot about the overcast stitch and so when, when working on the napkins, I got my dinner rags out and overcast stitched the edges. no more strings and they feel much more elevated now!
I also have a pair of flannel pajamas that wore out – like I went to put them on and my foot just ripped through the thigh! – with white, gray and hot pink snow flakes. I just bought some hot pink thread. Looking forward to making them fun and getting a few more years out of them!
