...and i adore you...: i'm a faker...

...when it comes to sewing. On a whim four years ago, Mr. Man and I decided to buy some lounge chairs for our living room to provide guests with extra seating. At the time, we only had a couch. Well, we got the chairs at a couple of thrift stores, for a grand total of $15. As comfortable as they were, they were ugly. No problem I said, I'll just make slip covers for them. At this point, Mr. Man gave me a puzzled look, "How? With your magical sewing machine?" I replied, full of sarcasm, "Yep, the magical one you're going to buy me." Off to Target we went. After HOURS of pinning and sewing, pinning and sewing, I finally had two slip covers made out of king sized sheets we also got a Target.

And that ladies and gentleman, was my first time using a sewing machine.

Sure, since then I've made some pillows. Hemmed a pair of pants or two. But every time, I've winged it. No pattern; just me, pins, fabric, and my sewing machine. Basically, it's amateur hour of here.

With my new found confidence, my obsession with fabulous fabric began. I started buying anything I loved, without thinking about what to do with it. And quickly, my collection started busting at the seams (one day, I'll post a picture). I've been saying for months, maybe even years, that I'll make dinner napkins out of all the fabric to give away as gifts and to keep on hand. Well then life got in the way. Fast forward to this summer and my tin jars. I put off the napkin experiment yesterday and today was the day to put it into action.

I ran to Ace Hardware this morning before my breakfast date, spoke with this nice gentleman named Brad who was able to cut me a piece of plexiglass before I had time to stroll down the aisles of the store looking for more inspiration. For a mere $12 (take that Hobby Lobby), I got my 18" x 18" square template to use for cutting my napkins. WAHOO! I was finally ready! Here's how I made the magic happen.

I went to find the design*sponge DIY tutorial that I thought I book marked, but apparently didn't. Wah wah. (I did eventually find it).

Then, I decided to stop looking at the tutorial. Step three of said tutorial is ridiculous, "press down a 1/4″ rolled hem on the top and bottom, pinning in place if necessary." Uhhhh, what is a rolled hem? So I did a quick google search and it turns out it requires a special foot for my sewing machine. Well, that wasn't going to happen.

Next, I had to pick out fabric to make the napkins out of, grab the supplies I'll need to cut it with (cutting mat, rotary cutter, plexiglass square). I ended up with these three fun ones.

The red fabric is vintage fabric I picked up a while ago and the other two are from Hobby Lobby. Anyway...

I laid out the fabric, put the plexiglass on top and went to tracing.

Here's a better shot of how the plexiglass helped guide the rotary cutter.

So I went about cutting square after square after square. Twenty squares later, I was ready to sew!

So, there I was. All these perfect squares and not a clue as to how to sew them. I mean, I know how to sew a straight seam, but I didn't want the raw edge to show. So somehow, I had to roll the fabric under and sew it. If I had three hands, I could have done it no problem. If I had four, I could have gotten a good picture of my failed attempts. I tried pinning it, but there wasn't really enough fabric to pin.

So, being the faker I am, I just started rolling the fabric with my hands.

So, I twisted all four sides, on twelve napkins, and my wrist is still a little sore. And, I'm in LOVE with the results. At the beginning, I was worried about making sure all the seams on any given napkin were equal, but that soon became a thought of the past. I came to the realization quickly that people are going to be wiping their mouths with these napkins and they aren't going to notice if the seams don't match, and if they do, they'll love the imperfections or they won't. If they don't, they won't get any more goodies from me. :) And hey, an imperfect cloth napkin is better for the environment than a perfect paper napkin so I'm at peace with the imperfections.

Here are all twelve of the finished lovelies.