cloth napkins to dress up tea time
We love the idea of these: cloth tea napkins. Featuring line drawings of colorful cups and cutlery, they’ll turn any cup of tea into special event. These darlings are pricey, $55 for set of six at Rocket St. George (because of the cursed exchange rate) but we bet you thrifty folks can find vintage ones at the flea market that will do the trick.
Do you use cloth napkins in your home? Let us know if you have good sources to share!
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 am
For everyday, I use plain white cloth napkins from Williams-Sonoma. They’re nothing special, but they’re washable and bleach-able and keep paper napkins out of the garbage. For special occasions, I have a collection of linen and vintage napkins that add a little color to the table.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:39 am
Yup - I confess, I’ve always been a cloth napkin girl - my mom always used them, and it just never occurred to me to use anything else.
I don’t have any great secret source, I’d say most of mine come from the Crate & Barrel outlet (I’m lucky to have one within reasonable distance) or from Target (they get marked down frequently) or BedBath&Beyond.
I’ve had friends ask me if cloth napkins aren’t a pain to care for. Not at all. Sometimes, when I’m feeling fancy, I’ll iron them. Usually, though, I just grab ‘em out of the dryer the second it buzzes and fold them ASAP, and they turn out looking just fine.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 am
LLA has the right idea, cloth napkins are the way to go, and it never fails to impress guests. I think garage sales are far and away the best way to get inexpensive but pretty cloth napkins; I have about 40 in several colors of linen, about 8 of each color. I think I spend about $6 over the past 3 years.
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:22 pm
cloth here too. with 2 little ones it is an enviro choice as much as anything (we would be going through a lot of paper napkins…) i scour ebay for vintage vera. watch for them at my local thrift shop. and have a set from ikea i have goccoed…
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I agree with the dryer trick - I never iron our napkins. Sales are the best places to find cloth napkins. They shouldn’t cost a lot for the every day ones. I discovered that I could easily use quilting cotton fabric remnants and seam up the edges. I’ve used some really funny novelty fabrics (flames, chickens, etc.) that are now favorite napkins of my kids.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I agree with LLA as well, most of my cloth napkins are from the C&B outlet and their website has cute stuff at great prices too! I am a big fan of less trash and would much rather just remember to grab them out of the dryer quick! My parents bought paper napkins for us when they were visiting and we were having a party and that was around Thanksgiving, I still have most of them now because we never ever use them!
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 am
We use cloth napkins as well. I use the ones I got as a wedding present 10 years ago (which have faded from a greenish aqua to a pale green over time) as well as some new ones I made by simply cutting fabric to size, stitching a tight line 1/4″ from all the edges, then fringing the edges with a pin while watching tv. (I chose a woven plaid for my napkins so they don’t have a right or wrong side.)
May 24th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Vespabelle, my mom uses that same trick!
She also has an embroidery sewing machine so I have lots of homemade cloth napkins with a cute embroidery in the corner.
My favorites, though, are my linen cocktail napkins with tatted edges. She found them at a flea market for a ridiculously low price and bought up dozens of them.
Thank goodness for moms!
October 12th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
All the old stuff I wore as a child is coming back. Kinda scary and makes you feel old, but it looks great most of the time.