Linen Thanksgiving Napkins
I love sewing napkins for Thanksgiving. They are such a simple and fun way to dress up the table and you can use them all year long. In fact, I like making them so much that I’ve made a new set for the Purl Bee every year since 2006! My main goal for this year’s set was that they be quick and simple while still being beautiful and different from year’s past.
We recently received a big shipment of linen fabric from one of our favorite companies, Globalweave. They make stunning linens that range from the jewel toned Sheer Linen and Open Weave Linen, to undyed, rustic Linen Solids. Shipments from Globalweave often come from India wrapped in burlap and sewn shut by hand which always make them seem like such a special treat. After unpacking the latest shipment of their lovely linens I knew I had to make this year’s Thanksgiving napkins with of them.
I chose the natural Sheer Linen and paired it with one of our bright and seasonal Fire Spectrum Bundles. I love the look of the natural, nubby, undyed linen framed with the rich tones of red, brown and orange. Since the fabrics themselves were already so pretty next to one another, and since the operative word here was simple I sewed them up using a quick technique for clean mitered corners; no bias binding or fiddly hand sewing required! Happy Thanksgiving!–Molly
You can find our previous Thanksgiving napkins here.
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Molly Schnick. Click here to see even more of Molly’s work!
Materials
To make a set of 12 16-inch square napkins:
- A Purl Soho Spectrum Bundle of 12 fat quarters in “Fire”
- 2 1/4 yards of Globalweave Sheer Linen in Beige
- Cotton Thread in color 4930
Pattern
Cutting
Cut one of the fat quarters into an 18-inch square.
Cut the linen into a 16-inch square.
Pin the linen square into the center of the larger solid colored square so there is one inch of the solid square framing the linen square on all sides.
Sewing the Napkins
Press each side of the solid square 1/2-inch towards the inside of the square.
Unfold the corners so you can see the marks the pressing made.
Cut off the corner diagonally at the point where the pressing marks intersect as shown above.
The corner will now lay flat as shown above.
Fold the corner down so it forms a 45-degree angle.
Then fold the sides down a 1/2-inch again, pinning down the corner so it forms another 45-degree angle.
Do the same to the opposite side and a nice mitered corner will be formed.
Fold down and pin all the sides in this manner.
Top stitch the folds down around all four sides, pivoting at the corners and making sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of the seam.
Repeat with the remaining linen and fat quarters and you’ll be ready to set the table!
Update 2024: You can explore our current collection of beautiful fabrics and supplies on our page of Sewing Tools + Notions!
Just lovely! I love the splash of color on one side and the linen on the other! These would go great with my Harmony House 'Wembly' thrifted dishes! Gobble! Gobble!
This is brilliant! I have struggled with bias binding on napkins in the past and thought it was too fiddly for words–but just doing two layers with a foldover binding…wow. Love it! thanks for sharing.
Absolutely inspiring! Makes me wanna go out and buy a sewing machine and make some napkins!!
These would make a brilliant hostess gift since so many of us are guests on Thanksgiving aside from the usual flowers, etc.
Striking and simple! Thanks!
Do you have a kit for these? I would love to click just once 🙂
So simple and lovely!
freakin' fabulous!!
i just made these and love them! here's my little blog w/ pics —
http://downstairsbrooklyn.blogspot.com/
thanks so much!
I'm making some today!!! Love this idea and am so excited that it is this simple 🙂
just saw the napkins what a great idea I do a quilt like this never thought napkins WHO KNEW will show to sewing club tomorrow Thank u thank u
What a great idea. Do these linen napkins need ironing?
Hi Chirssie-
If you want them to be crisp and flat they would need to be ironed. However I find slightly wrinkled linen to be rather pretty so I probably wouldn't iron them except for on special occasions, like Thanksgiving!
Thank you for writing in!
Molly
Love the detailed photos. Appreciate the time you took and I love this pattern.
I love your technique….So much easier than messing with bias tape!
I absolutely love this pattern…thanks for sharing. Judyb
Thank you for the DIY, I love this idea !!
i wish there was a button on here to pin it! beautiful!
Ooooooooooo, a coordinating button would be so CUTE on one corner of each napkin!
I need to sew bias binding on my napkins as I already bought it but dont know how
To do the corners please if you can advise me tks
Hi Letitia-
This previous project will show you how to do the corners using bias binding:
https://www.purlsoho.com/create/the-purl-bee/2006/11/20/mollys-handmade-napkins.html
Thanks!
Molly
This is such a brilliant idea and so easy.
I’ve just made a throw rug using this method – a piece of beautiful hand-blocked Indian fabric and plain backing fabric.
It has to be the easiest way ever of doing mitred corners.
I’m about to start on some place mats and napkins.
Many thanks for sharing such a great project.
Thanks for this wonderful idea! I just finished making these and they look great! Can’t wait to set my Thanksgiving table!
P.S. If you lay the napkin with colored side up, bring bottom piece up to fold into a triangle. Then fold the two bottom points toward the center and roll the flat sides around to the back, and you have delightful and colorful ‘feathers’ to place inside your water glasses. Looks so cute on the table!
Hi, these look so cute! I was wondering if stains come easily out, though- I have a lot of messy eaters in my family! 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for writing in! I find that I can easily get stains out of my linen napkins. I made mine a few years ago and use them on a daily basis and find that they still look quite as nice as they did when I finished them!
Best,
Cassy
These napkins are perfect! I’m trying to purchase the fabrics, but SOHO only has green linen, other links give me “404” messages, and I cannot find them in your shop. This must be one of my bad days we all have from time to time. So, any hints will be most appreciated, I can take it! Thank you.
Hi Anna,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately the bundle we used and the natural color of Sheer Linen have been discontinued, but we have several other fabrics that would work! I would suggest using Daily Linen in Natural Flax for the main color of the napkins, and either a Spectrum Cotton Fat Quarter Bundle in Warm or an assortment of half yards in colors of your choice from our Spectrum Cotton. Each half yard will be enough for two napkins!
I hope that helps!
Julianna
Any chance the photos will be updated since it appears they’re broken? I realize this is 10 years old, but I’d love to have them as a reference!
Hi Tori,
Thanks for reaching out! We’re noticing some issues on our website because of a recent update and are still ironing out some residual kinks. We’re aware of this problem now and are urgently looking into it, so thank you for bringing this to our attention! I’m sure this is frustrating, so we appreciate your patience as we troubleshoot in the meantime. We hope to have the photos back up again soon!
Best,
Gianna