4th of July Decor: DIY Cocktail Table Napkins

The 4th of July is less than a week away and I know you guys are planning fun parties! 4th of July decor is a must-have for any events that you have centered around this memorable holiday.

If you plan on having a small gathering, where guests will be seated at your table, how cute would it be if you had cocktail napkins made specifically for the 4th of July.

I found this cute fabric and couldn’t wait to create something with it. I love cloth napkins, so I figured it would be awesome to create cocktail napkins to bring in some 4th of July decor. I don’t want traditional decor like balloons, banners, and other wasteful stuff that I’ll have to throw away afterwards, so these cocktail napkins are festive for the holiday and easy to wash and store away for years to come.

Here’s what you do to create your own DIY table napkin.

You will need 1 yd of 42″ wide 100% cotton fabric. This creates six 10.5″ square napkins. It’s important that your napkins are able to be washed in your washing machine and be easy to maintain. Cotton is a natural fiber that is absorbent and easy to clean. It’s also inexpensive. Make sure you check the label on your fabric to make sure it’s cotton. I bought this super cute 4th of July fabric featuring white stars and a fun dog (with lots of swag) printed on the blue background.

***Note: I want to apologize early for including some bad pictures in this post. It was extremely hard to focus my camera well with one hand, while trying to use the other hand in the shot. Ditto.***

You’ll also need: a sewing machine, scissors, fabric glue, an “L”-Ruler, and an iron.

Once you have your fabric, put it through a cold wash cycle (and then dry in your dryer) to make sure it shrinks before you sew them. If you don’t wash your napkins before you sew them, they’ll end up shrinking when you finally do wash them, changing the initial size of your napkins.

Once your fabric is washed and dried, iron your fabric flat to make it easier when cutting out your squares.

Now, trace out six 13″ squares on a flat surface. For some strange reason, I tried to first do this on my carpet and had an extremely hard time getting my lines to line up. Very bad mistake. Do this step on a table or even your kitchen counter (if you need to).

Once you have your six 13″ squares fabric squares cut out, start with one square and fold and iron down 1/2″ on one side. Turn clockwise and do the next side, and repeat this for the last two sides.

When you finish the fold and press (iron) on the last side, fold and press again 1/2″ on each side of the same fabric square, repeating by turning clockwise until you fold and press the last side. Repeating this process for the second time is necessary to hide the raw edge of the fabric created when cutting out the squares.

Okay, now this part is a tad bit tricky; we’re going to do this part one corner at a time. Start at the right hand corner of one of the four sides of your napkin. At that corner, make sure that the end of that side is on top of the end of the side to your right. 

Then you fold that end (the end on the top) diagonally so that the corner looks mitered like done in the below photo.

Put a little glue under that diagonal fold then press that corner back down with your iron again.

Rotate clockwise and repeat for the next corner until all four corners are done.

Now, it’s time to take it to the sewing machine. Starting at the inside corner, sew around all four sides close to the inside finished edge.

Clip the loose strings and you’re done! 

They turned out great! I will love showing them off Friday!

If you’re looking to add some 4th of July decor to your home and don’t have the time or resources to make similar napkins, I have a few sets of these available in my Etsy shop ready to ship!

How cool is this fabric? How are you decorating for the 4th? Need any clarification on any of the above steps? Be sure to drop a comment and let me know!

Till next time,

XOXO