Toot Toot Tuesday-Burlap Napkin Rings

I love to use cloth napkins, they make a meal feel fancier, they are better for the environment, and they can just be plain cute!

Well what is a cloth napkin without a cute napkin ring?

My friend (who uses cloth napkins at every meal) made some cloth napkins and rings to match last year, and I have been wanting to make my own version ever since.

You could make these with any fabric, but I chose burlap because I could dress it up or down pretty easy depending on the meal.

Believe it or not, to make these you start out with a cardboard tube...you probably don't want to use a paper towel roll, you want something with some substance...like a a tin foil tube.Then you are just going to take a sharp knife and cut it into somewhat equal pieces (you can measure and mark it if you want). I found that the serrated knife I started with tore the card board a bit, so I ended up using sharp fillet knife after the first couple and it went lots faster and smoother.I decided to make six for now, you can tell I didn't measure or really care if they were all that straight, they turned out just fine! Next cut a strip of burlap (or fabric) wide enough that both sides of the fabric will go over the edges of the rings. I just used one long strip for the whole set, and then cut it as I was done with each one.Then you just fold over the edges and hot glue them inside your ring.I then folded the fabric just a bit about a 1/3 of the way around the ring, folded in the edges and put some more hot glue inside, so that it gave it kind of a "pleat."
Then for the end, I cut the strip, folded the edges under, hot glued it to the tube, and glued the remaining edges inside.

This way you can't tell where the beginning and end are, it just looks pleated all the way around.

Here are my finished set on my napkins put in a basket in the middle of my table, ready to be used for dinner tonight (it's my oldest's birthday tonight, and we will be having her favorite...mac & cheese...at least the table will feel fancy!).

You can also embellish these with ribbon, buttons, flowers, monogrammed wood tiles attached to jute or ribbon...anything!

I kept mine plain, but can easily add some ribbon to match my table scape if I wanted.

These along with some napkins (and maybe some coasters) would make a great gift for a girlfriend, sister, mom, aunt etc... for her birthday, a hostess gift, mothers day or just a "happy day" present.

Or just whip up a bunch for yourself and make dinner something special every night.

If you make some, I want to see them!

I shared these at A Soft Place to Land & Today's Creative Blog today....