four little.napkins

I'm a little behind on all of my projects since I was under the weather for a couple weeks.  It's so great to be feeling well again! 

It was time to pull out Stitch by Stitch again.  This month's project was napkins teaching me how to miter corners.  I learned some other things along the way.  (Knowing how to properly miter a corner would have been extremely helpful when I was making table squares for my friend.

Doesn't it feel great when you can cut a little slit in wrapping paper and then glide the scissors along to make a straight edge?  And have you ever watched someone cut fabric by ripping it?  Well, I learned how to properly do that.  I wanted to make a clean line by teasing out a tread, but the threads are so small and I'm not patient.  Ripping was way more fun!  This is also a good time to tell you that I kind of cheated in my fabric selection by picking a plaid so that I'd have a greater chance in having straight edges.

little.snip and you've got straight edges

Next I needed to cut out four squares to make four napkins.  The first napkin I cut ended up being a little larger than the others.  I measured differently since I hadn't straightened all my edges yet , and I folded the edges a little smaller.

one cut napkin

My sewing machine has an overcasting stitch, so I used that instead of the zigzag stitch.  It allowed me to figure out how to use another presser foot and stitch.  Good experience.  If I had understood what I was reading in the book, I would have figured out that I could've skipped this step.  But I'm glad I didn't understand.  I decided to try it out on all the napkins.  I think it was a good choice since this fabric like to unravel around the edges I ripped (which ended up being all but one or two since that was a really fun step).

overcasted edge.  fancy

I then successfully mitered my corners.  I enjoyed this step.  I didn't enjoy folding everything back over and pressing again to do the topstitch.  However, this step was necessary since these napkins are a gift.  No cutting corners (except where I had to to properly miter!).

four napkins

I now feel a tiny bit more like a seamstress since I know how to properly overcast and rip fabric.  I need to get better at mitering; I'll get more practice with that and bias tape in the next project!

About the fabric: Prep school plaid woven yellow from Whipstitch.  I tried finding it in the online shop but was unsuccessful and I didn't write down all the details when I bought it in the store.  It's a lovely, soft cotton.

I will complete the look/gift with blue napkin rings to match.