La Chatte Gitane (or The Gypsy Cat) was the name we chose for our cottage in France at the time. We chose it while on the road, moving house the first time round, from Ireland to France with 2 dogs and 7 cats in the car.
This blog began its insignificant life as a recipe book for friends and family who would ask me repeatedly for a recipe of this, that and the other.
Since then it has taken many different directions, like we did and like gypsies tend to do. Sometimes making a U-turn and revisiting familiar roads and taking a break when necessary.
You'll find recipes here, but also musings about the places we've called home, the gardens that we've established, not always successfully, the homes we've improved and the environments we've lived in. Currently, after yet another stint in Ireland, we're back in France @ Le Mas d'Ayen

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Make Your Own Simple Napkins


I'm on a roll.
It looks like I've got my mojo back and here I am, yet again, with a new blog post.

I have had a soft spot for table napkins for as long as I (but mostly my husband) can remember, but in the past I've always bought paper ones. Beautiful designs and vibrant colours, but paper ones, nonetheless.

Whenever I was out shopping and came across some pretty ones, I would buy. You know, just to stock up.  Bert would say  "What ? More napkins !?" 
And just like with the issue of the real/fake Christmas tree, after 20 odd years of nagging, I finally give in. Why doesn't this work the other way around ?   I've been nagging him to put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket and hang his still-wearable-clothes up on the hangers.  I've been nagging him for years about the food he spill on his T-shirts. He still turns his spoon around just before popping it into his mouth. Why ?!

I digress.  Since living here in Ireland I haven't come across beautiful paper napkins on my shopping trips, so I decided to make some fabric ones. And,.... and I make do with what I have lying around the house. 
For these I have repurposed an older Ikea curtain, natural coloured cotton. Cut it in 40 cm squares, which definitely is the minimum size, bearing in mind that you need to hem them over, which will take about 1 cm off on all sides.
After cutting to size, I took a snip to the corners of the square.  This made it easier to fold the corners neatly. See in the next few steps. Pin the hem in place.





If you have your iron nearby it will make things easier if you indeed iron the hems before or after pinning. The hems will stay in place better when you come to sew them.
I used a fancy stitch on mine, but you can keep it simple too.



When sewn, I used fabric markers that I still had from when we used to be art material shop owners way back when.  They still work.
I chose free flowing designs and I'll be making plenty more before Christmas arrives.



Nineteen to go.

Thank you for visiting. Come back soon.
Patricia xxx...x

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

  1. MyriamC10:04 pm

    Much prettier than paper napkins. Goe bezig!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...