A Little House Christmas Laura’s Patchwork Napkins

Last week I shared the Storybook Cottage Christmas kitchen that had received inspiration from the “Little House” books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was inspired to create A Little House Christmas Laura’s Patchwork Napkins.

A Little House Christmas Laura’s Patchwork Napkins

Each place setting had a personalized napkin. Today I will be sharing how to create the napkins which feature a disappearing nine patch design. When Mary and Laura were first learning how to quilt they learned to make a nine patch quilt.

“The attic and the cellar were full of good things once more, and Laura and Mary had started to make patchwork quilts.” ~ Little House in the Big Woods

I like a generously sized napkin. Particularly during the holidays when eating rich food while wearing sparkly duds.

For this project, I used a total of nine different fabrics from the Andover Fabric Little House on the Prairie collections Prairie Flowers and Scenics and Icons.

A HUGE “Thank you!” to Andover Fabrics for supplying all of the fabric needed to create this project.

Measurements

If you want a finished napkin that measures 22 inches square cut out nine blocks of fabric that individually measure 6” x 6”.

Begin by sewing 3 of the blocks together. You will do this a total of three times since you have a total of 9 blocks.

Then sew each of your three blocks to another set of three blocks until you have a simple nine patch design.

You will then cut the 9 patch design in half horizontally and vertically.

It will look like this once cut.

Please note the four center fabric squares. They are cream colored and say “Little House on the Prairie”.

Take two of the cream colored center squares that are opposite from one another and flip them around so the cream fabric is now facing the outside.

Your four separate squares will now look like this and you will then sew them together.

Personalized Labels

Once the pieces are sewn together the front of your napkin is complete and ready to be personalized.

I used the Andover tag fabric (A-7983-N) from the Little House on the Prairie Scenics and Icons fabric line.

All of the embroideries were done by the very talented Kate Clemmons.

Each embroidered tag was cut out, the edges ironed to create a hem and pinned onto the napkin.

The name tag was then sewn to the napkin using a zig-zag stitch as this fit the rustic nature of the napkins. But other stitches, such as the straight and satin stitch, can also be used.

Fabric Backing

From there you join the front of the napkin to the back side of the napkin. I selected one single piece of material for this but you could do a double-sided patchwork napkin if desired.

Pin the right sides together and sew leaving a 4-5 inch open gap that you can then flip the fabric so that it will be right side out. Press the napkin and sew the gap closed as shown on the top.

(The napkin is shown folded over on the left-hand side to show the back fabric of the napkin.)

The front of the finished napkin will look like this:

I simply folded the napkin in thirds vertically and then in half horizontally. It was then laid on the tin plate. A bit of twine, a touch of greenery and an old-fashioned red and white piece of peppermint candy complete the place setting.