Posted on Sep 22, 2011
Posted by Gyllian Rae Svensson, Tom’s of Maine fan, Burlington, Vermont
There is a nip in the air and summer is waning here in our Queen City of Burlington, Vermont. Over this past season I have dismantled my brick & mortar shop moving my business, The Bobbin, home to the South End Arts District. Working from home allowed me to create my latest Slow Fashion collection while fully involved in the day-to-day questions & chaos of my noisy, creative family. My adjustment to working at home has also highlighted the many troubles my family has with storage, recycling and especially organization.
As the back-to-school frenzy of September is transitioning into new schedules and routines, I find myself unpacking the fall wardrobes, searching out the pairs of elusive wool socks and wondering what to do with some of my family’s most cherished clothing items. Particularly ones that I would prefer they no longer wear out in public! From paint stains to frayed sleeves and awkward mends, there comes a time in the lifecycle of our favorite garments when we need to let go. Some clothing (wrong color, wrong size, and wrong style) can happily be donated to local churches and thrift stores. However some special clothes, those well-loved memory makers, I believe are best kept for upcycling and sustainable sewing projects. Beloved dresses, delicate silks and precious baby clothes are perfect materials for fiber art wall hangings and memory quilts. However, those everyday clothes, the work shirts, the summer skirts, aprons and soft cotton dresses can be upcycled, given a second life as a new useful member of the household. One such use for these soft cotton garments is reconstructing them into unique and practical Sustainable Napkins.
Gather your Supplies
You will need the following items for this project.
Sewing Machine -and/or- Needle & Thread
Iron & Ironing Board
Paper Bag
Metal Ruler
Pins & Pin Cushion
Paper Scissors
Fabric Scissors
Seam Ripper
Marker
To Make 8 Sustainable Napkins- you will need any combination of four clothing items. Example: 2 shirts & 2 aprons or 2 dresses & 2 skirts
The larger the clothing item, the greater number of napkins possible.
Prepare your Materials
Once you have sorted through your clothing, gather together varieties of all cotton (woven not-stretchy) skirts, dresses, shirts, aprons, etc... and wash in cold water with eco-friendly soap. Have fun mixing and matching your patterns and colors. Remember, you are making napkins!
Hang your wet laundry on a clothesline to dry, and then steam iron to remove all wrinkles.
With your fabric scissors, or seam ripper, remove all sleeves, collars and side seams to open up the larger fabric pieces.
Create your Pattern Pieces
With your paper scissors, cut down one side of your paper bag and cut around removing the bottom of the bag.
For napkins created from just one piece of fabric, we will draft a pattern from the larger paper bag remnant. This napkin design is best for beginner seamsters. While using a marker and ruler, measure 19" in Length and 11" in Width out of your paper bag creating a rectangle pattern. One piece of fabric cut from this pattern piece creates one napkin.
For napkins created from multiple smaller pieces of fabric, we will draft a pattern from the bottom of the bag. This napkin design is best for intermediate seamsters. While using a marker and ruler, measure 11" in Length and 6" in Width out of the bottom of your bag. Four pieces of fabric cut from this pattern piece, sewn together, create one napkin.
Layout Pattern Pieces & Cut Fabric
Layout your pattern pieces on the fabric (be sure to line up with the straight grain). Trace around the edges of your pattern pieces on the wrong side of the fabric and cut out the pieces with your fabric scissors.
Fold & Iron & Pin Under all Edges
A single napkin is created first through folding, ironing & pinning. Once properly ironed and pinned the napkin is ready for the seams to become permanent through use of needle and thread, or at the sewing machine.
Sew Folded Seams with Running Stitch
For machine sewing, adjust for a straight stitch at a medium length. For hand stitching, choose a long heavy needle with embroidery or heavy-duty thread in a color of your choosing. If you want your stitches to show, use a contrasting thread; otherwise match the thread to your fabric colors.
Pivot the Fabric at the Corners
Hand stitchers have no trouble with pivoting their corners, but on a machine it can be a little tricky. Sew in a straight line keeping the frayed edge inside the seam. When you reach the corners, pivot your fabric around, keeping the needle embedded. Sew all around returning to your original corner and back-tack (or double knot) to seal in your seams. Trim your threads and you are napkin ready!
Center Seams for Smaller Fabrics
To avoid any frayed edges in the center of your napkin, create a wide center seam. After stitching together your wide seam, iron flat and double fold your raw edge under. Once the seams are ironed and pinned, simple top-stitching will make the seams permanent. This project can be completed entirely with hand stitching, but it will take longer than with a machine. A combination of machine and hand stitching can lend a nice design effect.
Set the Table!
The addition of these Sustainable Napkins to our family’s busy routine has allowed us to say Goodbye to paper towels. At mealtimes we embrace the story-inducing memories of our unique table settings. Hopefully this project will inspire you to give your beloved textiles a second life too!
All photographs by Gyllian Rae Svensson. You can find Gyllian here!
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