How To Sew Cloth Napkins in 5 Steps + Standard Napkin Sizes

What size should my napkins be?

Before I get to the how to sew cloth napkins tutorial, is anyone else confused by napkin dimensions?

I mean, I didn’t grow up in a fancy sort of house, so learning about the appropriate sizes for dinner napkins vs. lunch & cocktail napkins wasn’t part of my life lessons.

But when I googled napkin size as an adult, I found many different answers. So I tried to simplify and use average sizes for my homemade napkins. 

Here are the approximate standard napkin sizes, in inches: 

• Formal: 22-26 inches square
• Dinner: 18-20 inches square
• Lunch: 14 inches square
• Tea or Kids: 12 inches square
• Cocktail: 6-9 inches square

Can you make no-sew cloth napkins?

Technically, yes, you could.

You could try a non-fraying fabric and leave the edges raw or with a natural fringe. I have store-bought lovely burnt orange napkins with a raw edge that I love (photo above). They do however come out of the dryer with a mess of threads every time. This means I’m spending time trimming the threads before I put the napkins away again. 

You could also try to make napkins with iron-on hem fuse tape. However, the hem fuse tape may or may not hold up to the vigorous washing that reusable napkins require. 

So personally, I think that sewing napkins is the best option in the long run. 

What material should you use for sewing cloth napkins?

The best fabrics for making cloth napkins are cotton, linen, and sometimes polyester. Each has its plusses and minuses. 

Fabrics

I prefer to use either linen or cotton fabrics for my DIY napkins. 

Cotton. Fat quarters (often used to make quilts) are a fun and easy fabric for making napkins. They’re already almost the right size for smaller lunch napkins or smaller if you’re using “proper” napkin sizes. If you’re just using your napkins for casual family meals, then the fat quarters are great. The typical cotton of fat quarters also absorbs well. 

Linen. Like cotton, linen is very absorbent and gets softer with each washing. Linen is also surprisingly good at resisting stains. Linen is a touch harder to work with when sewing your own napkins though, so I may not be the best choice for your first go at making napkins.  

Polyester. You could use a polyester or polyester blend for making your napkins. These don’t absorb as well, but they are more wrinkle-resistant than cotton and linen. 

Sewing Thread

You’ll want to choose a coordinating thread for whatever fabric you choose. 

You can choose a contrasting color if you’d like. But this will amplify any stitching mistakes you make rather than hide them. 

How to get the fabric you love for less

I purchased some white cotton napkins recently, but really wanted a linen fabric look for Easter/Spring.

Fortunately, I had about 3-4 meters of summer linen blend in my fabric stash (which I must say is TINY compared to some peoples’!).

I had paid $3 a meter for it last fall at Fabricland because they don’t tend to stock much of it in the winter months and they really wanted to get rid of it. 

So, if you want to make cloth napkins, look for beautiful fabric at the end-of-season sales…like linen in the fall! Or shop around for it online. 🙂 

How to sew cloth napkins with mitered corners

Before you begin to create your cloth napkins, you need to wash, dry, and iron your fabric.

• Throwing your fabric in the washing machine and drying it will help to reduce future shrinkage, prevent colors from bleeding, and to remove chemicals.
• Ironing your washed and dried fabric will make it much easier to work with while sewing. 

This process is something you should do before any sewing project.  

Materials

• 2-6 meters fabric of choice
• thread of choice

Tools

• Sewing machine
• Scissors OR a rotary cutter, mat and ruler
• Straight pins
• Iron
• Ironing board
• Ruler or tape measure
• Straight edge (optional)

Directions for DIY Cloth Napkins

Cut your fabric

Decide on the size of napkin you want to make. Next measure your napkins and mark them on the fabric with a pencil, including a 2-inch hem allowance. Then you can use either scissors or a rotary cutter (with a ruler and self-healing mat) to cut out your napkins. 

Tip: I found that using a straight edge helped me to get square cuts.

How many napkins you can make from each yard/meter of fabric depends on the width of your bolt of fabric and the size napkin you choose to make. For example, if you have one yard/meter of fabric (about 36 inches long) and the bolt is 42 inches wide, you can make only two smaller dinner napkins from a yard/meter of fabric. But if you make 14-inch square lunch napkins you can make four. 

(I made our napkins in the smaller dinner napkin size, so the finished size is 18×18 inches, with a half-inch double folded hem. This means that I cut each raw napkin to 20×20 inches.)

Fold and iron the hems

Fold over edges 1/4 to 1/2 inch. If your fabric has a “right” and “wrong” side fold the edges towards the back of the fabric so the hem will be on the “wrong” side. Then fold over again. Iron as you fold. 

Cut the mitered corners

Open the corners on each napkin. See the 4 square fold lines? Trim from corner to corner. This removes the bulk in each corner of the napkin when you’re sewing. Refold.

Sew the hems

Pin all four corners of your napkin.

Then using a sewing machine, sew around the napkin near the outside edge and then again near the inside edge of the hem.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. And repeat some more if you’re making a lot of napkins – I made 12! Then you’re done!