(or anything else that you might want to mitre)
Special occasions, i.e., birthday, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, hostess gift . . . (you get the idea), often requires a small gift. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg either! Sometimes a gift made by hand (in this case), my sewing machine, is the perfect one. Christmas before last, I had a request from my daughter, for some cloth napkins. I did a bit of research and decided the mitered corner look was the one I wanted to try. After making close to 20 mitred corner napkins, I figured I was pretty good at making the mitred corner!!! They were very well received and used daily!
So, I dug into my fabric stash and got busy making more (for us, this time). You can’t have too many cloth napkins as we try not to use paper ones where possible. My granddaughter got a special one for Valentine’s Day, to go with some fresh baked cupcakes and energy bites.
This is a quick tutorial for making a mitred cornered napkin that is so quick and easy to make. And, you don’t have to be an experienced sewer to do them.
The Mitered Corner
Mitred corners aren’t difficult. The key to success is in the pressing.
Pre-wash and iron the fabric.
A natural fibre such as cotton or linen is the preferred choice. So don’t discard that old tablecloth, as it could be repurposed into napkins or a utility bag.
Folding The Edges
Start With a Square
Usually, you work with an 18 ½ inch square or a fat quarter which is a bit bigger.
I’m using a piece of muslin for this demo so that you can clearly see the process. This will eventually be another doodle cloth for hand embroidery. More on doodle cloths in another post.
The First Fold
Make a ½ “ fold on all sides, and press each in place.
Pay careful attention to the corners and press well.
Notice that one fold overlaps the other.
The Second Fold
Next, fold under 1” and press again.
This is how the one inch fold is applied over the half inch fold.
Making the Mitred Corner
The sequence is shown for one corner. Repeat on all four corners.
The Starting Point
Here is the folded corner with the half inch and one inch folds on each side.. As before, one fold overlaps the other.
Step 1
Open the one inch fold all the way around. One corner is shown in the picture. The crease from the one inch fold is visible, as well as the impression of that fold caused by pressing.
Step 2
Fold the corner diagonally as shown in the picture. Make sure the creases from the origional folds are aligned. Press the fold in place.
Remaining Steps
The following sequence shows how to complete this process.
The images are in order of actions left to right.
Summary
This process can be applied to any size item from a small napkin to an extra large table cloth, or even a quilt.
Judy I can’t wait to give this a try. Thanks for your wonderful instructions
Excellent instructions – the photos make it very clear. Thank you for sharing. (Like Dale, I thought , “Ohhhhhhh, that’s how to use it!”, when I saw the little ruler with the red tab!! )
Hi Judy! Glad to hear that things have improved. You have had it very rough.
Great tutorial. Lots of pics. Love that. A set of these would be an awesome gift. Thanks for sharing. Hugs
Thanks, Linda
Life is getting back to normal. All is well.
I like to have lots of pictures to illustrate the various steps.
Thanks Judy. As an aside, I never knew until now how to use that ruler with the red slider! Thanks!
Hi, Dale
Good to hear from you. The slider is a neat little ruler. Glad I could help.