I haven’t had that much inspiration lately, so I was really glad when I came up with today’s entry. It is a challenge I issue to myself and anyone else reading this. The challenge is to use cloth napkins instead of paper. According to Seventh Generation’s website “If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 250 count package of virgin fiber napkins with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

  • 1 million trees
  • 2.7 million cubic feet of landfill space equal to over 4,000 full garbage trucks
  • 380 million gallons of water, a year’s supply for 2,900 families of four
  • and avoid 64,000 pounds of pollution!”

What do you really need? Enough napkins for a week for two people (14) and additional ones for company and in case you may need two in one day (9), a total of twenty-three (23).

Here is a super simple way to make some napkins. You’ll need:

  • fabric (people recommend quilting cottons) cut into squares around 12–18 inches wide
  • a sewing machine
  • scissors
  • thread

Here are the steps to make these napkins:

  • First, press in double 1/4-inch hems (fabric folded over 1/4-inch is a hem) on two opposite sides, and sew them with a straight stitch.
  • Press in the remaining two sides 1/4-inch and sew.

That is it! Seems super easy. I will update this entry with pictures once I find some cute fabric.

Cool.

-Cara