On the ninth day of Christmas Jillian Sharples Design gave to me, a set of christmas napkins to adorn my festive table…
Well here we are, a week into lockdown. While the country isn’t quite standing still to the same degree as it was during the first lockdown of the year, I’m sure there are still plenty of you sitting around wondering how to pass the time! And, given that we’re now well into November, with Christmas edging closer and closer, maybe it’s time to start planning that perfect handmade Christmas.
This week’s offering is most definitely the easiest, at least in my humble opinion! So if, with the extra time you may now have on your hands, you are just starting to think about getting crafty for a handmade Christmas, this is a perfect place to start, and will definitely wet your appetite for making some more handmade festive treats this year!
In fact this craft project is amazingly simple. It requires no cutting of fabric, you can simply use the fat quarters at whatever size they are, making this a nice, quick project too. Sometimes simple is best and sometimes simple just makes for a lovely change. Here you can genuinely produce something really beautiful to add to your handmade table with minimal effort. Just what you need at the end of a long day!
What you’ll need for a set of 4 napkins:
4 individual fat quarters (these will likely measure anywhere between 40cm x 40cm and 50cm x 50cm)
Pins, needle, matching thread, sewing machine
Iron and ironing board
Making your Christmas Napkins:
1) Iron the fabric to remove any creases. Next, lay the fabric face side down and all the way around the first piece of fabric fold and iron flat a 3cm hem. Once you have this, fold the hem in on itself and iron again. This will give a hem of 1.5cm all the way round. Pin to secure as you go.
2) At the corners you can simply fold one edge on top of the other and pin down.
Iron fabric flat 
Measure and iron 3cm hem all the way round 
Fold the hem in on itself to make a 1.5cm hem all the way round
3) Using the sewing machine, stitch all the way round the hem. Leaving a couple of milimeters between the stitch line and the inside edge of the fabric.
When you have come all the way round, back to the start of your stitch line, continue to stitch over the line again for about 1cm. This secures the stitches and prevents fraying.
Once you have ironed and pinned your hem all the way round, folding the corners down on each other, you can sew a stitch line all the way round.
And, Voila! You have a set of lovely Christmas napkins. Nice and simple!
Wow, so after making Christmas coasters, placemats, crackers and napkins we really do have everything we need to create a beautifully special handmade festive table for Christmas 2020.
So, having finished the mammoth task of preparing the Christmas table, which has such a central role in our festive celebrations, lets move on next week to think about Christmas decorations. Over the next, and final, three weeks of my ‘Twelve Crafts of Christmas’ I’ll show you a small yet lovely range of Christmas decorations that are simple and straightforward to make and which will add yet more special touches to your decorations this Christmas.
Jillian Sharples Design 