Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

I don't have the words to explain what my mom means to me. She is the inspiration for my life! The ultimate role model. She taught me everything I know.

My mom and I have been spending the past few days on the beach in South Carolina. As if that isn't gift enough - I made her a gift too. :-) And I am going to share the how-to with you! Gifts for everyone!

Dinner napkins! They have been my specialty lately. I have been making them for my Etsy store and have had a few successful sales. Check out the fun colors/patterns here. Dinner napkins are pretty easy to make - anyone can do it. They are just a little time consuming (which is why they sell, I presume).

To make 4 dinner napkins you will need 1 and 1/4 yards of 45 or 60 inch fabric. I always pre-wash and dry my fabric to make it softer and make sure it won't shrink after I've sewn the napkins. After the fabric comes out of the dryer I cut it into 21 inch squares with a rotary cutter.

Then I fold and iron each of the edges in 1/2 inch.

Next, I fold each edge in once more and pin them there making a double turned edge. The corners are a little trickier - I create a mitered edge by first cutting them at a diagonal (otherwise there would be too much fabric bunched in the corner)...

Then folding the edge up once...

then turn the long edges back up once...

and twice...

Then pinning. This and the step before usually take some adjusting and are definitely the hardest part of the whole process.

Then sew! Iron and done.

Sewn mitered edge.

Sewn hem

I made only two dinner napkins for my mom because she has an adorable just-for-two table at her house she uses for daily meals with my dad. I thought these two napkins would be perfect to brighten up her table setting.