Finish off your holiday table with these unique napkins. The modern pojagi seam makes them totally reversible, and everyone will wonder how you made them.
Change the colours to make a set for every holiday of the year.
Supplies
You can make these with any type of fabric, but if it is your first modern pojagi project, use a cotton that is reversible, like a batik or a solid. If your fabric has a clear right and wrong side, you will have to be careful to get the fabrics the right way. It is possible with the reversible seam, just more complicated than normal piecing.
Fabric – to make four napkins
- Three – 2” WOF (width of fabric) strips colour 1 [A]
- Four – 3” WOF strips neutral colour [B]
- Two – 3-1/2” WOF strips colour 2 [C]
Thread
Use any normal sewing thread. Traditionally in pojagi a contrasting colour is used and the stitching is part of the design. You can use a neutral or match one of the colours of fabric you have or a third colour.
Assembly
Make strip sets
Join the strips using the simple pojagi seam method in the following order:
A – B – C – B – A – B – C – B – A
Measure
Measure the width of the finished strip set after all strips are joined. It will probably be between 19 and 20 inches.
Due to the nature of the pojagi seam, it is difficult to make the seam an exact size, so measurements will vary. That’s fine.
Cutting
Cut the strip set into two squares, using the width you just measured as the length of the square side.
Cut along the diagonal to get quarter square triangles.
Finish
Take one triangle with horizontal strips and one triangle with vertical strips.
Join them along the long edge using the same pojagi seam to make a square.
Fold over the edge twice and topstitch to hem. Hem one side at a time, don’t try to do all four at once.
You’re done!
Because of the pattern of the napkin, you don’t need to do any fancy folding to dress it up. Just fold into quarters and it does the work for you.
Groups of napkins can be arranged to make interesting designs.
Here’s another picture because I couldn’t stop playing with them.
These make a fun set with the Pojagi Reversible Placemats and Reversible Table Runner. Use for your own occasion or give as a gift.
Elizabeth DeCroos
Elizabeth DeCroos is the designer and teacher at Epida Studio. She loves to work in quilting, pojagi and embroidery and teach these techniques to others.
Learn more and get her to speak to your group.