Other Supplies
- sewing machine & thread
- fabric shears
- iron & pressing surface
- measuring tape
- straight pins
Notes
- Each fat quarter yields 1 napkin. Each 1/2 yard of solid white fabric yields 2 napkins.
- Please wash, dry & press your quilting cotton before beginning.
1. Cut a 16” square from Fabrics A to C and (6) 16” squares from your Backing fabric.
2. Baste each Backing square to an A-C square, Wrong Sides together, with a 1/8” seam allowance. Trim any excess around the edges.
3. Using your fabric’s pattern as a guide, sew three or four parallel lines across each napkin to prevent its two layers from shifting during use and wash.
Binding the Edges
1. With the white side of one napkin facing upward, open up your binding tape and line it up with the edge of your fabric, the outside of the bias against the napkin. Sew the binding to the napkin along the outermost fold line, backstitching at the beginning of the seam.
2. When you approach the corner, sew up to about 3/8” from to coming edge, or the same distance as the width of your seam allowance. Put the needle in your work and rotate the fabric so you are ready to begin the next side of the napkin. Tuck the wider part of the binding under your machine’s foot, out of the way of the seam. Lower the foot and resume sewing.
3. Continue around the perimeter of the napkin until you come to the beginning of the bias tape that you sewed in Step 1. Overlap the end by about 1/2”, backstitch and cut your tape. Whenever you run out of a piece of bias, simply overlap the end with a new piece and continue the seam.
4. Clip into the outer corners of the bias tape.
5. Turn your napkin over so that the patterned side is facing up. Wrap the bias tape around the napkin’s edge, with its own long edge tucked in toward the center of its fold (it’ll want to do this naturally), and stitch it in place with a seam 1/8” from the inner fold.
6. When you come to a corner, stop a seam-allowance away from the edge, put in the needle and turn the work. Tuck the unsewn bias under the foot as you did in Step 2 and continue the seam. Backstitch at the end of the tape.
7. Press the binding well, especially at the corners.