Admit it once you chewed that last piece of turkey, you immediately turned on Christmas music and let the flurry of the season commence. If you answered no to that hypothetical, then you aren’t a blogger. Or you are a crazy person who celebrates Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving. Either way it’s all about Christmas now.
Thus my 2nd installment of Dare to DIY. This week is all about entertaining.
I did napkin rings last week, so the natural progression is to do napkins this time around. Except for my Christmas table because Thanksgiving is so last week. Enter DIY hand stitched napkins for Christmas.
Supplies: white napkins, embroidery floss (it took 3 – 8.7 yd spools to make 4 napkins), embroidery needle
I just wanted a simple X pattern. I used a quilting ruler and marking pen to mark every half inch. Then moved the ruler up 3/4″ and marked a second line.
Normally I would rather stick a needle in my eye than hand stitch anything. A bit dramatic yes, but hand stitching is like the worst crafting of all time. However I wanted to make these napkins and be a part of the awesome Dare to DIY party, so I did it. Guess what guys hand stitching with embroidery floss is way easier, so this is actually a pretty painless DIY.
You get in the mindless groove of pulling the needle through and before you know it you’ve caught up on your DVR and had a couple of glasses of wine. And you’ve got yourself some snazzy napkins. This is what the back of the napkin looks, so you can see the flow of the needle a little easier.
A little tip – make sure to pull the napkin as you sew to prevent bunching. You could just an embroidery hoop, but I didn’t mainly due to laziness.
I scavenged the greenery from a tree we have. I cut up a Trader Joe’s bag for the name card. How’s that for reusing and recycling, eh?
These would make great hostess gifts too! Such a sweet handmade gift that is useful and original! It’s pretty inexpensive too. The napkins were less than $1 a piece. If you buy the floss individually, it’s about 30¢ per spool. Super cheap especially when you look at how awesome the finished product is.
I’ve had this plaid IKEA tablecloth for a while. It’s perfect for the traditional(-ish) Christmas decorating we are going to do. I love how the napkins look with the tablecloth.
These napkins go down as my 2nd napkin project (because that’s something normal people keep track of). If you’ve never seen my Anthro inspired polka dot napkins for my very untraditional Christmas table, then go do that!
I’ll be back later to share the whole table. In the mean time go check out the link up at Decor and the Dog. Plus the hosts Kim, Rachel, and Katja always have something wonderful up their sleeves!
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i love these- they look fabulous with the plaid tablecloth!
Thank you! IKEA nailed it with that tablecloth!
You are the napkin Queen. They are perfect with the plaid tablecloth.
It’s just one of my many nicknames! 😉
This is so pretty. I just love that table cloth and again your table setting is just awesome. I love that stitching and the branch is just darling! It has that sort of bonsai look to it. So amazing!!
Yeah that branch definitely has a bonsai look. I have no clue what type of tree it is, but there are several in the neighborhood that are just basically screaming for me to clip them and use them on a tablescape.
Must be so loud where you live
It really is. Luckily the tree screams are masked by the Beckett screams. SO. LOUD.
Just the right touch! Love it with the plaid
xoxo
Thanks Kristin!
Totally with you on the hand sewing thing. TERRIBLE. These are darling. You should start a whole blog on beautiful napkins. I’d totally read that.
I can barely even keep up with this blog. Your demands are too much.
So cute! I love the red tablecloth too
Thanks Caitlin! IKEA always has the good stuff.
These are so simple and elegant. Love it!
Thank you Danielle!
Those are very pretty napkins! I like how the red pops against the white.
Thank you! I originally wanted to do black thread, so they could be used year round. I clashed too much with the tablecloth though. In the end I’m glad I used a color!
These are super duper cute! Love the homespun look.
Thank you! They totally have a handmade feel to them with looks so great with the organic shape of the plates.
I like the simplicity of this. And perfect for a valentines day dinner in a couple months!
Whoa now you are introducing multiple possibilities to bust these out!! Mind. Blown.
These are so cute Amber! I love the stitching (and the gold flatware and the adorable sprig of greenery)!
Thanks Brynne! It’s basically all my favorite things!
nice! this makes me want to go hand stitch something….and that’s not something I say every day!
It’s something that no one ever says and yet I’ve done the impossible. Someone hand me an award.
Ooh, I love the pop of red against the white napkin! So simply elegant for the holidays and then some.
Thank you Corinna!!
Those are really cute. The sprig is a perfect touch too. I like that you can use them all year long too. Bring them back out for Valentines Day or the 4th of July.
Ah the 4th I did not even think about that! Awesome!
Love those napkins!! I feel like I could actually handle some stitching like that! And can I borrow your flatware and that plaid tablecloth???
Fun fact – I actually own those anthro napkins, luckily I got them on clearance so I didn’t feel to guilty purchasing them.
That is awesome! I probably would have bought them if I found them on clearance too. I needed them to all be that hot pink though, so that was the downside.
Beautiful, Amber! So simple but so lovely.
Thank you Rachel! It definitely fits the vibe in there!