DIY Cocktail Napkins: Linen with Crocheted Edge

Hello friends! I’m sharing with you a tutorial for DIY cocktail napkins or any kind of napkin for that matter. But first, the backstory.

My grandmother moved in with my family when I was about 4 years old and spent the last 12 years of her life traveling the world with our Navy family.  To say we were spoiled by having Grandma live with us is an understatement.  

Her never-ending passion was baking…enough said.  It wasn’t until after her death when I was 16 that we had store-bought bread in our home.  Her pies, cookies, and baklava were legendary.  The fierce combo of my mom and grandma ensured we had a kitchen that was sparse of processed foods. 

Grandma’s other passion was embroidery and crochet.  Not only did I fill my belly with her hand made goodies, but I laid my head down each night on pillowcases that she embroidered and sewed her crocheted lace on.  

We were a paperless kitchen well before it was an environmental issue. Grandma and mom outfitted each kitchen with coordinating fabric napkins and grandma made and embroidered several of our tablecloths. Now that I think of it, they were Martha before Martha was Martha!

I am the logical extension of my mom and grandma.

They instilled in me the appreciation nice linens, that whole functional aesthetics thing.  I have a great collection of cloth and linen napkins that we use instead of paper.  

Some I’ve bought locally, others I’ve picked up on our travels.  I love sitting down to dinner with the napkins I bought at the Louvre Museum Shop, in a little village I passed through when hiking through Alsace-Lorraine or at World Market for that matter.  

My fabric cocktail napkins stash has been looking a bit tired, so I decided to get busy and make some fabric napkins, including these DIY cocktail napkins.  I found a nice neutral linen at my local JoAnn’s Fabric Store and went to work.  

I’m not even close to a seamstress;  if I can do this, so can you.  I’m also working on my other Grandma’s 30+-year-old sewing machine, so while you do need a sewing machine, you don’t need a fancy one.  

Since I’m still in my ‘put a crochet border on it’ phase, I did add a very simple border.  I timed the process and you can produce a napkin from start to finish in about 2 and 1/2 hours.  

After figuring out the process, what I did was spend some time cutting, ironing and sewing the cocktail napkins and then my napkin stash was portable, so I could do the hand-sewing and crochet anywhere.  

How to DIY Cocktail Napkins:

What you need to make 4 10″ square linen/fabric cocktail napkins:

Some of these are affiliate links and I will earn a small commission off of the sale of these products, but the price you are charged is not affected. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

• 1/2 yard of washable linen (you will be able to get 6 napkins from the 1/2 yard)
• 1 spool of pearl cotton.  I used DMC Ecru Pearl Cotton #8.
• 1 skein Coats Crochet Aunt Lydia’s Fashion Crochet, Cotton Size 3, Natural
• 2.75mm crochet hook, Susan Bates 5-1/2-Inch Silvalume Aluminum Crochet Hook, 2.75mm
• Disappearing Ink Pen
• Sewing Machine.  As I said, I’m using a 30+ year-old hand me down from my Grandma and many of the features don’t work (luckily sewing a straight seam does!)  

If you can’t find what you need,  Michaels will have supplies for most every crafting need under the sun. You can order online here and have it shipped or you can pick it up at your convenience. 

For the body of the napkins:

• Cut your fabric into 11.5″ squares.  I don’t have a cutting board with gridlines, but I wish I had something like this after doing this little project. Straight lines make everything so much easier!  Think I’m going to invest in one as I see myself making many of these for gifts and the wavy lines on my ironing board just make the whole process harder!
• Turn over 1/4 inch on each side and iron down.  Using spray starch helps keep the fold pressed
• Then turn over 1/2 inch on each side, pressing down with starch.
• Unfold your 1/2 seam and, using your disappearing ink pen, mark at the point of the fold.

  

• For each corner, fold your fabric with right sides together, matching the folds made with your 1/2″ turn.

  

• Using your disappearing ink, mark along a fold line from the dot.  Then measure 1/2″ from where the line meets the edge of your fabric and put a dot there.  Draw a line connecting the 2 dots.

  

• Pin the fabric down and sew along the diagonal line, making sure you reverse at each end to keep it secure.
• Starting at your original dot, cut your fabric as shown (sorry it’s a little blurry)

• Repeat for each corner.  Unfold your corners.  I use a letter opener to push my corner points out to make them crisp and sharp.
• For my first try at this, I then sewed my folds down so very nicely.  DON’T DO THAT.  I found that it was best to wait until you’ve put your back stitch in so that you can hide all your loose threads.  

Add a backstitch to your napkins:

• Using your disappearing ink mark, make a mark every 1/2″ along one side of your fabric.  This ink disappears very quickly, so you’ll only be able to do one side at a time.
• Thread your needle with about 2 3/4 to 3 yards of your pearl cotton.  You will want the thread to be double, so tie the 2 ends together.  This length of the thread will allow you to put your backstitch along 2 of the edges.  You’ll repeat for the other 2 edges, but the thread was too long to have just one piece.
• I put a backstitch along the folded edge of my napkin, but you could use a blanket stitch if you’d prefer that look.
• If you aren’t familiar with the backstitch, it’s very simple.  Come up from the back of your fabric and out point number 1.  Then go in point number 2 and out point number 3.  You will then go back in point number 1 and out point number 4. From point 4 you’ll go in at 3 and out at 5.  Get it?

• When you reach the end of the thread, tie it off and start again until you’ve gone completely around the napkin.
• The only stitch you’ll need to know for the edge I did is the single crochet.  
• Work 5 single crochets (sc) in each 1/2″ section of your backstitch.  By jamming the 5th one in there, you create a little scallop.  My original plan was to work something a bit more detailed, but in figuring it out, I liked the look of the very simple scallop.  
• If you’d prefer something other than this simple border, there are many variations of crochet edging out there and no rules, so get creative!

Finish your napkin with a crochet edge:

• Once done with your crochet edge, tie off and trim all your loose edges.
• Press seam down and stitch a top stitch all the way around.  
• Grab your prettiest tumbler and pour yourself a scotch, even if you don’t drink it, just to see how pretty it looks!
• Embroidering an initial in the corner would be a great touch, especially if given as a gift.  

I’m thinking of spending some time at my sewing machine and whipping up a bunch of these DIY cocktail napkins as gifts this year.  We’ll be traveling overseas this summer and doing the edge work will be a great way to spend the time on the long plane and train trips.  So family…guess what you’re getting this year!

Looking for more knit and crochet patterns?

Pop over here for all my knit & crochet patterns in one place! And, if you want to be ‘in the knit know’ and you’d like to be notified of the publication of any knit or crochet pattern before the rest of the world, you can do that here.

To refer back to these instructions to DIY Linen Cocktail Napkins, bookmark this page or pin the following image.

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!