Sew Your Stash Saturday - January

I saw a post on Instagram about sewing from your stash in 2015.  I can totally get behind this.  Partly because we all have fabric in our stash that we bought years ago and still haven't managed to get to.  This is sad.  At the beginning of 2014 I said I wouldn't buy fabric.  I managed to make it about six months without buying too much fabric.  This year I'm going to try even harder.  The most difficult part is when making quilts.  You can't finish a quilt without backing and that can be a huge investment in fabric and money.

If you want to find some inspiration for working through your stash, check out Sew My Stash 2015 on Project: Leasa's site.  She'll be posting challenges to keep everyone motivated.  I know that if I don't keep working I won't ever get through all this fabric.

I told you about the bags I made using The Green Bag Lady's pattern.  I also made stacks of fabric napkins with some fabrics I had just taking up room.  You can find my tutorial for cloth napkins in the side bar or here.

One of my cousins mentioned that her son thought the fabric napkins I sent for the winter holiday one year were too big (I think they were about 14" by 14").  It seems she gives them about 1/4 of a paper towel with meals for their little fingers.  I wanted to send along some small cloth napkins that were made with fun prints for him to use.

These are small napkins, measuring around 9.5" by 9.5".  I cut them this small for a couple reasons.  One, I can cut four napkin sides out of a piece of fabric that is more than 10" by width-of-fabric.  This means a little over a half yard will make four double-sided napkins.  The second reason is that it is a good size for little hands.  In truth with a cloth napkin it isn't a bad size for grown-ups.  Most of these fabrics came from a couple grab bags of remnants I ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I should not be allowed to buy fabric like that.

These 24 napkins will head off to the other coast for my cousins to use.  Next time I talk about Sew My Stash 2015 I'll have something a little more ambitious to share.  More on that another time.

Have you tried to add cloth napkins to your everyday life?  What kinds of projects would you like to try to work through some of that fabric you've been hoarding?