In my ongoing quest to minimize my belongings (or should I say the things that own me), I continue to clear out things I have been stashing (hoarding).  My next project uses a stack of 1930’s reproduction fabric prints.  I have had these in my stash for over 20 years now, some even longer.  I moved them from southern California to northern California to Oregon where they have been sitting idly in one of those roller drawer cabinets.  Every time I look at that cabinet it reminds me of the bed quilt that I wanted to make using all those fabrics.  Well, as you know, your tastes change over time.  Your color palette changes, your mind changes and now you have stacks of fabric that you spent good money on.  You don’t want to get rid of it, but you know you will never make THAT quilt.

Here are the stacks that I am starting with.

Beautiful colors and designs.  What can I do with these?

Well, make napkins of course!  The colors and patterns will match perfectly with my collection of Fiestaware.  Not all of these pieces are exactly fat quarters (18″ x 22″) but they are close.  I chose two pieces that somewhat coordinated, placed them wrong sides together then trimmed for a clean straight edge.  I then stitched 1/4″ seam along all the sides and left a 3″ opening on one side (to turn the napkin right side out).  I ironed the piece making sure to go over the stitching to set it then turned it inside out and pressed the seams to lie flat,  then folded in the 3″ opening to be in alignment with the rest of the seam.   I pressed the whole thing once more and then took it back to the machine to stitch a 1/8″ seam all along the edges.  Here are the napkins that I created in about an hours worth of time.

You can see they are double-sided.  I especially like the red and black one in the right corner.  The red side is dogs playing and the black side are cats playing.  Here they are folded and stacked, ready to be used.

Doesn’t this just make you smile?

My goal to reduce my paper waste and reuse what I have, has been met.  Easy peasy!

Keep it simple!