NO SEW (seriously!!!) Dinner Napkins

30 Nov By 2 Comments

This project is so much easier than it is going to seem.  Trying to describe it makes it seem crazy laborious, but it isn’t.  It is easy and intuitive and you can do this.  Yes, you without the sewing machine.  Really!

yes, YOU - you can make these!

The first thing you need to know is that Stitch Witchery is going to be your best friend.  For life.  I am here to tell you, once you discover this stuff you won’t want to live without it.  Putting patches on Scout uniforms?  Done.  Hemming pants at the last minute?  Done.  Making cool dinner napkins in half the time it would take to sew them?   Done.

Stitch Witchery - source: Joann Fabrics, $3.99

Along with Stitch Witchery, you will need:

Steam iron

Ironing board

Scissors

Pen

Measuring tape

Fabric – amount depends on how big you want your napkins to be.  I made 20″ squares, so I cut the fabric at 22″ to allow for seams.  To make 4 napkins, I bought 1.25 yards for each side.  If you use one fabric for both sides, you would need 2.5 yards.

I chose a beautiful home decorating fabric to compliment my Holiday Tablescape.  I backed the fabric in a matching color of cotton muslin to give my dinner guests a softer place to politely dab their delicate lips as they are enjoying stimulating conversation and savoring good food.  If you are more likely to be entertaining children guests who are more prone to smearing their faces and hands with food and then wiping their grubby hands and faces on whatever is nearby, you might want to choose a different fabric.  Or use paper napkins.  Or ask the wolves raising your children to focus more on table manners.

Be sure to clean your fabric the way you plan to clean it later to get any shrikage out of the way.

Lay the fabric out on a flat surface and identify the selvages.  Selvages are the woven edges which run the length of the fabric.  Selvages are the only reliable straight line on fabric.  Even printed fabric can be askew, so you really should only trust selvages.  And your mother.

Selvages can look different depending on the fabric

So that the napkins don’t turn out all lumpy and warped, we need to start with a true square.  To get this, measure 22″ from the selvage and mark with a pen every few inches.

Cut along those marks for a length of at least 22″ then fold from the inner cut edge to the selvage to make a triangle.  Let the cut edge overlap the selvage a bit.  When the fabric is overlapped completely, measure 22″ from the bottom of the fold to the top of the cut edge.  Cut along the edge.

Next flip the triangle over and cut off the excess which is overlapping the selvage.  Now you should have a true square to use as a template in cutting the other squares.


Use the template by laying your square in top of the fabric with selvages lined up as best as you can.  Again, in selvages we trust.  You can use a pen to mark around the square or carefully cut the fabric using the template as a guide.

When you have all of your squares cut out, take 2 squares and face their “right sides” (the side with the design) together.  Make sure all of the edges line up.  Working on your ironing board, fold one edge back and place a strip of Stitch Witchery about 1/8 of an inch in from the edge.   If the Stitch Witchery is hanging out from the fabric, it will stick to your iron and make a big, big mess.  Get it close to the edge, but not over.  Next carefully place the folded back fabric onto the Stitch Witchery, making sure you keep everything lined up and press.  Working with about 5 inches of tape at a time seemed to be easiest for me.

When you place your hot steam iron on the section that has Stitch Witchery under it, just hold in place to the count of about 10.  Do not slide your iron around.  Just push down and let the hot steam do its magic.  Be careful to keep your spool of Stitch Witchery away from the steam iron or you will find yourself with a little puck of fused together Stitch Witchery.  I know this from experience.  Trust me.

Go around the fabric fusing the edges together on 3 sides.  Leave about an inch without fusing from the 4th side.

stop the fusing about an inch from the 4th side

When you are done, turn the fabric over and press from the other side.

On the 4th edge, fold back fabric about an inch on both sides and press.  (Do not use Stitch Witchery here yet.  Still keep it away from the steam iron!)

Clip a triangle from each of the 2 fused corners.  Be sure not to cut too deep because that will create a hole when we turn this puppy inside out as we are about to do.

be careful to not cut too deep - the long edge of the triangle should be about 1/8 inch from the inner edge of the fusing

Okay, now turn this pillowcase inside out so that the “right sides” are on the outside (where you can see them…because a napkin with pretty fabric on the inside would be dum.  Yes, D U M, dum.).

Press out the seams and make the whole napkin flat.  Use a pointy thing to gently, carefully push out the corners.  A chopstick or really dull pencil works well.  I use my scissors, but I am sort of reckless like that when it comes to sewing (or “fusing” as the case may be) and unless you have been trained in this method, I would not recommend you try this at home.

Put Stitch Witchery between the open seam, as close to the edge as you can, and press both sides as you did before.

So there – you are done before you know it!   Now you have to plan your dinner party!

sneak peek at my Holday Tablescape!

 

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Fancy Twigs

28 Nov By Leave a Comment
Some twigs spoke to me.
I was walking with some girlfriends and all of a sudden I could not follow the conversation because some twigs in the road caught my attention.  They called to me.  I couldn’t ignore them.  I couldn’t leave them behind.  They were just what I needed for my Holiday Tablescape.  I knew they had to be mine, so I dragged them home.

I envisioned my “Rustic Elegance” holiday table theme to have a lot of natural elements, so I didn’t want to paint the branches a fake-looking solid color or make them too sparkly.  A spray paint I found at Harvey’s Hardware called “Satin Nickel”  was exactly the dull goldish-silver I wanted.

Krylon Satin Nickel spray paint

I held the spray can about a foot away from the branches to make sure that the paint went on in a very thin, irregular layer.  I wanted some of the natural grayish bark of the branches to show through.  To give the branches a little extra dimension, I tossed some clear glitter (source:  Art Emporium) at the branches as I sprayed.  A very small amount of the glitter stuck and it is very subtle, but I think it adds another layer of detail to the branches without making them look overdone.

In the interests of full-disclosure, I admit that I did all of this painting in my backyard very quickly - with no newspaper protection – on top of the leaves covering my grass.  It was super easy and there was no clean-up!

Instead of hoping the branches would stay put in a vase, I used Plaster of Paris (source:  Home Depot) to create a permanent arrangement with a weighted, stable base.  Plaster of Paris sets up quickly, so I cut the branches to the approximate size I wanted, trimmed and moved them around until I had a set grouping I thought would work.  I chose to use an upside-down quart ice cream container for my container for a few reasons:  1.)  It was what I had on hand.  2.)  Turning the ice cream container upside-down gave the arangement a bit more stability without added width.  3.)  I knew this container would fit in the decorative container I planned to use.

Plaster of Paris sets up quickly, so it didn't leak out of the top.

I was planning to place this arrangement in a big glass vase and fill in around it with stones or peat moss or something to hide the ice cream container.  My Rustic Elegance theme seemed to lend itself to organic shapes, so I chose a rounded vase (source:  Christmas Tree Shops) and rounded votive candleholders (source:  A.C. Moore) to compliment it.

I chose rounded shapes instead of sleek cylinders or angular squares.

Now here was a bit of a dilemma – although my twig arrangement was heavy and reasonably stable, the bottom of the glass vase I planned to use was not flat, so the arrangement tended to list and tilt.  I tried a few things to make it stay put and then resorted to Gorilla Glue (source:  A.C. Moore) which is supposed to stick to anything.  It does.  I used A LOT of Gorilla Glue.  Yes, so much Gorilla Glue that it dripped into the bottom part of the vase and dried an ugly yellow color.  Oops.

I used A LOT of Gorilla Glue but it does hold the arrangement in place!

I solved this problem by wrapping rope (source:  Ocean State Job Lot) around the base of the vase and using hot glue to secure it.  The beginning and the end of the rope are cut at an angle to make the ends blend into the coil as much as possible.  It turns out that this looks even better because it gives weight to the base of the delicate glass vase, which is a better visual balance for the large arrangement it holds.  Lucky me!

Using the rope also gave me another idea for the contents of the vase.  Instead of using stones, I decided to work more with a nest theme.  I mixed Spanish moss (source:  A.C. Moore $2.99) with a collection of the odds and ends from all of the elements I was working with on the table – sticks, jute twine, silvery sphere ornaments (source:  Pier One), strings from the burlap runners (source:  Joann Fabrics), etc.

I extended this theme with a collection of resolutions printed on brown Kraft paper (source:  Paper Source), crumpled up and torn, as if found by birds and woven into their nest.  These resolutions are also woven into the nest-like spheres (source:  Pier One) hanging in the branches.

Printed using different fonts with irregular kerning to create a "found" aesthetic.

 

Sparkly twig sphere with woven-in resolutions.

 

The rope base is a nice addition - very lucky it worked out this way!

 

The vase works well with the other elements of the table - and encourages conversation!

 

 

 

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Elegantly Rustic Hanging Candleholders

27 Nov By Leave a Comment

Remember the 70′s when we made macrame everything? …hanging planters, bracelets, hanging planters, anklets, hanging planters, shoes…oh, yes - shoes.  I tried to make shoes but found out that paper is a terrible substitute for a leather sole.  I won’t be telling you how to make shoes.

I am also not going to show you how to make a macrame hanging votive holder.  I started with that idea and it just looked too heavy, so I came up with another plan.  It is light, it is airy, it is elegantly rustic!  You should probably not use a real candle though,  since jute can easily catch fire.  I recommend using only the LED flameless votive candles for this hanging votive candleholder.  Then you can enjoy holiday cheer with your friends to your heart’s content and never worry that your mantle will catch fire.  Yeah, I did that once too…a quick painting job in the middle of the night and the kids never knew!

You will need:

Jute twine (or any other kind of twine you want to use) (source:  Ocean State Job Lot – $1.99)

A small glass votive candleholder (A.C. Moore – $.50)

LED Fake Votive Candles (Home Depot – $7.99/8)

Scissors

A clipboard (or any other stiff, thin board type of thing)

Small binder clips – 10 (yours do not have to be all shiny and cool like mine)

Tape

Here’s how I got going:

1.  Take twine and wrap it around the thickest part of your votive candleholder.  Add about 6 inches more and cut.  Cut 2 more pieces of twine the same length.

2.  Cut 2 more pieces of twine about 36 inches long.  Fold them in half and knot the folded end so there is a small loop.

3. Now get out your clipboard and binder clips.  Clip the 4 strings horizontally and two of the strands of the longer looped string a couple of inches from the sides at the end of the clipboard.

jute twine clipped to clipboard - almost ready to go!

4. Clip the last 2 strands of the vertical twine so that they are clipped at the same length as the 2 strands already clipped.  This will leave a small loop at the top.

all four strands should be clipped at the same distance from the knot

5.  Knot the verticle strands to the horizontal strands.

you can use any knot you want, but the direction of this one works well

6.  When you are done, it should look like this.

try to keep

try to keep horzontal and vertical strands perpendicular to each other

7.  Now take your glass votive candleholder and place it on the knotted strands of twine.  Unclip the left clips holding the horizontal strands.  With your fingers holding the three strands, start to roll the votive candleholder over the knotted strands.  Tape the strands to the glass votive candleholder between each knotted section.

keep rolling, unclipping and taping until all the strands are unclipped from the clipboard

8.  Tie the loose ends of the horizontal twine together closely arounf the glass votive candleholder with a figure-eight knot.  Keep the knot close to the other knot if you can.  Clip off the excess twine.

cinch the figure-eight knot close to the other knots to keep things neat and tidy

9.  Now you can tie off the strands hanging form the bottom of the votive by taking two strands in each hand and tying a knot securely under the glass votice candleholder.  Clip off the excess twine.

tie off the the strands under the votive candleholder any way you want - a figure-eight knot is very tidy!

10.  When you are done tying and clipping, you can remove the tape.  Adjust the knot at the top if things are not hanging squarely.  Remember, this is a rustic hanging votive candleholder and it is not supposed to be absolutely, exactly perfect – plenty-perfect is what you are trying for here!

Better (and easier!) than macrame any day!

 

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Tablescape

22 Nov By Leave a Comment

It drives me a little nuts when a made up word enters our language and people start using it as if it is a real word.  I guess it is useful, but “tablescape” isn’t really a word, is it?  I don’t think it is in the dictionary.  Isn’t this just a fancy, new, made-up word for “table-setting”?  Sort of like “co-conspirator” (doesn’t the word “conspirator” cover it?  I don’t think we really need the “co” to let us know that more than one person is involved in a conspiracy.  It’s just overkill.)  I am not even gonna mention “irregardless” and “suppossably” and “tubberware.”  Okay, rant over.  Moving on.

I have been invited to make a “Holiday Tablescape” for the Needham Women’s Club Holiday House Tour.  I have been working on this obsessively This has been really fun and I am documenting the “how-to’s” for each part of my table in case you would like to use any of my ideas.  Really, go ahead, have at ‘em.

Lately, I have really been into mixing high and low elements and bringing natural textures into my home, so I have decided to work with a “Rustic Elegance” theme for a New Year’s Eve dinner party.  I thought I would share a little bit about the beginning of my process in case you want to think ahead about plans for your own holiday table.

I have made myself a challenge to use what I already have at home, as well as things I can get for free, find in nature, or small items which are really, really inexpensive.  I want this whole thing to be something that anyone could produce if they were so inclined.  My focus will be on contrast and a graceful mix of elements and textures.  I want to show people that putting together an interesting table is license to combine unexpected things, use common materials differently and have fun with pieces they love!

I started by mentally cataloging interesting pieces I have which could be the basis or inspiration for the table.  I recently found this awesome sphere on a clearance shelf at HomeGoods and would really enjoy building something around it.  I like that it is rough and natural, but swirly and strangely feminine as well.  Contrast creates energy!

wooden twig and wire ball

On my list of items to work with are some wooden charger plates (purchased on sale at Target a few years ago) and a handmade set of pottery salad plates which look good together.  I also have a few of my grandmother’s gold-rimmed Lenox plates, which I would like to mix in as well if I can make it all work.  I eliminated some pretty, but more colorful china, as I decided I would like to bring together different textures in a more neutral palette.

Layering and repeating contrasting elements helps everything make sense and relate back to each other – here is how I think this works:

  • refined formal dinner plate works with delicate cut out on smaller salad plate
  • handmade pottery of salad plate is refined by the delicate cut out rim
  • heavy gold rim on fine china gives it weight and stands up to the wooden charger
  • natural wood charger relates back to the handmade pottery salad plate
  • natural rattan placemat is refined by the delicate edge detail
  • scalloped edge of placemat echoes curvy edge of salad plate and swirls in gold rim of dinner plate

contrasting textures and repeated details

Although this is a fairly neutral palette, there is a lot of contrast in this grouping.  Each item does a couple of opposite jobs which makes it all work well together.  This is an unexpected combination, but it just goes to show that you can mix very different elements successfully if you pay attention to details.  I am looking forward to working with this combination to create a really interesting elegant, yet relaxed table-setting - also now known as a ”tablescape”!

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