Creative Every Day - Double-Sided Napkins (Tutorial) - Day 4

One of the new things we are trying this school year is to follow a daily rhythm that includes a color of the day. (I wrote about how an ideal week and each day looks in terms of this rhythm and homeschooling on my plan for the 2013-14 school year.)

The "color of a day" concept is commonly found in early learning Waldorf settings. I didn't do this when the girls were younger, so I wanted to see if it may be something that we'd enjoy now that they are older. I thought it would be a gentle way of adding another layer of rhythm to our daily and weekly lives.

Set of double-sided yellow napkins I made 

to use on Wednesdays.

The colors of the day in our home are:
=> Sunday - white
=> Monday - red
=> Tuesday - orange
=> Wednesday - yellow
=> Thursday - green
=> Friday - blue
=> Saturday - purple

The way that we use the color of the day is through our table settings: tablecloths, place mats, cloth napkins, table runners, coasters, and/or candles.

Other ways - related to meal time - that could reflect the color of the day include:
=> using serving platters or bowls in the color of the day,
=> displaying flowers on the table that show the color of the day,
=> serving fruits, vegetables, or smoothies that are the color of the day.

So, today for the Creative Every Day challenge I looked at one of my boards on Pinterest that focuses on Waldorf rhythms and meal times. I found a pin about how to make double-sided cloth napkins. It led to Rhythm of the Home which gave step-by-step directions about how to make the napkins.

The following are the steps I took to make a set of double-sided napkins. First, I found fabrics that I had on hand that coordinated. These were then washed and ironed.

Next, using a rotary cutter and board, I cut 8-inch and 12-inch squares from the fabric.

After placing the right sides of two of the fabric squares together, I pinned the edges together.

I sewed them together with about a quarter-inch seam.

There was a small opening left in one of the sides so I could turn the sewn squares inside out.

Next, I pressed the napkins so that the seams were flat. I clipped the extra threads and the corners of the napkins so the edges would lay flat.

Then, I turned the napkins inside out so the right sides were facing out.

I placed pins along the edges that needed to be turned under and sewn.

Last, I sewed along the edges to add a finishing touch.

Now they are ready to  be folded and used at our next meal.