Napkins — Rent, Buy or Make?

Napkins — Rent, Buy or Make?

July 8th, 2010 @ 5:19 pm by Mrs. Pashmina
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Napkins — Rent, Buy or Make? : wedding catalina island decor diy reception 16 1

Row after row of fabric at Elegant Fabrics NYC

After receiving the quote from Wildflower Linen, I decided that I should explore other options besides renting—either buying cheap napkins or making them.

If I bought, I would look for napkins from one of the discount stores like Kohls or Overstock.com on sale—I’m thinking like 70% off!

I have been searching on the internet and it has been crazy difficult to find the color napkins I want. So I think I may just need to stumble upon them. I am hoping for a dusty peach or rose color, and something with natural fibers and textures. Has anyone seen anything? Pottery Barn would be my style… but not my price range!

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Every day I walk past a little gem of a shop—it is called Elegant Fabrics. Have you heard of it? Yep, it is the place Project Runway went for oh-so-many seasons. I love their selection of fabrics. It is unworldly! If you are used to Jo-Ann’s or Walmart you will be gasping for air when you find this place. There are no quilting calico prints anywhere!

Napkins — Rent, Buy or Make? : wedding catalina island decor diy reception 36 3

Fabric Swatches

So after work last week I cruised around Elegant Fabric so I could find that perfect material. It couldn’t be too thin, or too shiny. It needed to be soft enough to wipe your mouth.

One of the best things about going to a fabric store in the middle of Fashion District in New York City is that they have swatches ready for you. They are used to fashion and design students asking them for swatches so they are ahead of the game. They have them pre-swatched and hanging from the fabric bolt so you can help yourself and leave the clerks alone!

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The Selections

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My favorite — Raw Silk @ $14.95 per yard

It took me a while to find exactly what I wanted but this is basically it: I like raw silk or dupioni, either in golds, pinks and peach neutrals, and soft colors with a pop of coral color.

I wasn’t even considering any fabrics over $19.95—but was really aiming for half this—which wasn’t realistic here. Unfortunately half the fabrics in there were $19.95-$24.95. So that eliminated a few at the get-go.

On the way home I looked at tutorials on how to make dinner napkins. They say I would need about 1 yard of fabric for every 4 dinner napkins. Since all the fabric at Elegant is 60″ not the more common 45″ I could get away with a little less yardage.

But would this be cost effective at $19.95 a yard? Not really!! But I could always keep the napkins for later…?

Would it be worth the trouble of cutting it into square, and perhaps hemming four sides of 75 napkins? What do you think?

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37 Responses to “Napkins — Rent, Buy or Make?”

1 2 Last

Member

aitkenpatty (message) 185 posts, Blushing bee

I think that you are better off renting or buying the napkins price and timewise, but if it is something you love - then go for it!

Since when is a wedding about being 100% reasonable?!? If it makes you happy - then do it!

7/8/10 @ 5:35 pm (reply)

Member

heather25 (message) 2,355 posts, Buzzing bee

buy premade.

7/8/10 @ 5:37 pm (reply)

Member

BirdofaFeather (message) 467 posts, Helper bee

my mom made almost 300 napkins for our wedding using serger. Making 75 seems like a breeze! We chose fabric that was less than $3 per yard however, so it was less than renting the cheap white napkins at our venue. I wouldn’t do it for $20/yard, but I assume that the linen rental for these napkins is much higher than the white napkins.

I also sold all the napkins that we used, so it definitely can be worth it!

7/8/10 @ 5:50 pm (reply)

Member

BirdofaFeather (message) 467 posts, Helper bee

I also sold all the napkins that we used, so it definitely can be worth it!

7/8/10 @ 5:50 pm (reply)

Guest

ambellina13

One thing to consider is that the silk is probably not washable…

7/8/10 @ 5:51 pm (reply)

Member

dreamallday (message) 11 posts, Newbee

I bought napkins on ebay for just under the cost of renting, it is worth checking out.

Here is a set that might work for you:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LOT-50-WEDDING-NAPKIN-ROSE-DAMASK-SOFT-PEACH-/350329296993?cmd=ViewItem&pt=BI_Linens&hash=item519140d861

7/8/10 @ 5:52 pm (reply)

Member

texaslawgirl (message) 1,062 posts, Bumble bee

There is no way I would pile on making 75 napkins onto my pre-wedding crafts. NO WAY. hahaha. I would just buy premade.

7/8/10 @ 6:06 pm (reply)

Guest

Sara C.

I had a team effort to make 120 for our upcoming wedding. My mom’s a quilter, so she has TONS of fabric lying around ready to be made into napkins… It took us (me, my mom and FI) to pick out the fabrics, cut and iron 120, and then my brother and his girlfriend are using a serger to finish off all the sides - they estimate about 6-8 hours for all of them.

One other thing to think about - the tutorial says 16 inches, but we opted for 12 inches and i think it’s probably going to be okay. We’re not having anything incredibly messy as food, and in the end, I didn’t think anyone would really notice. so you might be able to get away with less fabric.

Good luck!

7/8/10 @ 6:21 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Hot Wings (message) 2,213 posts, Buzzing bee

I would definitely sell them afterwards (keep a couple for parties you’ll host in the future) to make up the cost difference. If you love them, it might be worth it. Maybe it could be a favor for guests? Could it be a hankie?

7/8/10 @ 6:39 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

paisley

Try the following companies as they have better prices than wildflower and all ship national. Mosaic out of pittsburgh, pa. Over the top inc out of miami, fl. Linenhero.com out of michigan. And lastly, bbj linen in new jersey. Hope that helps.

7/8/10 @ 6:55 pm (reply)

11.

Member

vron (message) 26 posts, Newbee

i made all of my napkins - cut the fabric, ironed the edges, pinned them, sewed them, and goccoed them. it took forever and i would NOT recommend doing it, unless you have a ton of free time, or a serger. i didn’t have one and it added at least double the time on because i had to iron. i literally ironed for 4+ hours a night for 3 nights.

you can see some pictures here: http://ticktockvintage.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-currently-status-of-my-living.html

7/8/10 @ 6:56 pm (reply)

12.

Member

prairiegrl (message) 150 posts, Blushing bee

We (my mom and I) made napkins for our wedding, and it was really worth it! We used much less expensive fabric, though (stuff that was 2-4/yd after a discount), and only did 40. We got 4 to a yard - they were 18 inches square. It really added to the decor, because we used 5 different coordinating fabrics and set them up in the drinking glasses. And now we have lots of extra napkins!

7/8/10 @ 7:18 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Mrs. Hamster (message) 4,045 posts, Honey bee

Oooh, as a sewing novice, I would say “not worth it” but I’m sure a lot of more able ladies would disagree

7/8/10 @ 7:19 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Cardigan (message) 8,645 posts, Bee Keeper

Love that this post went up today, because I’m totally considering making our napkins! I say go for it!

7/8/10 @ 7:38 pm (reply)

15.

Guest

Margie

When in July is your wedding?

7/8/10 @ 8:21 pm (reply)

16.

Member

vanessaipadilla (message) 7 posts, Newbee

i made 80 napkins for my moms 50th bday party. it wasnt too bad. now im planning on using them at my daughters bday and my bridal shower.

i say do it!

7/8/10 @ 8:25 pm (reply)

17.

Member

OctPumpkin (message) 593 posts, Busy bee

I’m totally in the same boat. I would suggest that you do what I’m going to do and make a trial napkin out of a piece of fabric you have lying around the house. Then you can tell how time-consuming it will be for you and whether or not you want to invest that amount of effort!

7/8/10 @ 8:36 pm (reply)

18.

Member

julies1949 (message) 9,406 posts, Bee Keeper

I made all the napkins for the rehearsal dinner for my daughter’s wedding. They had a barbeque and we found a very soft denim colored chambray cotton in the clearance bin for $1.49 yard. It was also 60 ” wide.
100 napkins cost us less than $20.00. After the wedding we divided them up amongst our family, so everybody has a set.

7/8/10 @ 8:49 pm (reply)

19.

Bee

Mrs. French Fries (message) 2,217 posts, Buzzing bee

HOKAY, prepare for a novel. So, while I didn’t personally sew our wedding napkins, I DID select all of the fabrics (I did 1 fabric pattern per table, 12 patterns total), cut out the template/cut out all of the napkins, iron & starch all of the napkins, and fold all of the napkins. All 120 of them. The sewing job went to mama FF, who did an awesome job. She said it went fairly quickly, and she hemmed all 4 sides.

Having said all of that…they were ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT. They were worth the money. They were worth the time. They were worth the hassle (even my mom admitted it!). They were so unique, and having something that my mom, my sisters, and I worked on at the wedding? Well, it was pretty dang cool. (Almost as cool as having them as a memento after the wedding.)

Soooo, obviously I’m in the “make them!” camp. I’ve washed them all and I’m currently looking for a worthy pattern to make my wedding napkin quilt. If you (or anyone!) have questions, feel free to PM me!

7/8/10 @ 9:07 pm (reply)

20.

Bee

Mrs. French Fries (message) 2,217 posts, Buzzing bee

Oh, and btw, we did 16″ squares.