Recently I had a conversation with some friends who had just discovered the beauty of cloth napkins. In my home growing up, we used cloth napkins so I was surprised to discover they were not used by everyone on a daily basis. Each of us had our own napkin and holder and we used the same napkin until it was dirty enough to wash - usually every couple of days. The best part of cloth napkins is they get softer and softer with use.

Since I look at the world with an eye toward embroidery, I am always on the search for tea towels, dishcloths, napkins, any fabric item that would be improved with some hand embroidery. While strolling through IKEA recently, I found some ideal napkins for embroidery. I purchased a dozen, added a hand embroidered letter and they are now the perfect gift for my new napkin loving friends.

I’ll share my process in case you might like to embellish and enjoy your own cloth napkins on a daily basis!

Here’s what you need to make your own set:

napkins (here’s what I bought at IKEA)

dmc floss to match (I used 336, 943 and 3705)

stablizier (here and here are my go tos)

marking pen (I like these erasable ones)

needle - #5 embroidery

scissors

embroidery hoop

ruler

I visited 1001fonts.com, chose a simple font, enlarged to about 1 1/2”, printed the letters I wanted and then traced the letters onto stabilizer. I measured and marked 2 1/2 “ from the corner, stuck on the letter and used 4 strands of floss to chain stitch the shape. Once complete, I soaked the napkin in hot water to dissolve the stabilizer, rinsed and let it dry.

Happy Stitching,

Lou Ann