1/6/12: Manners Matter and This Should Help with That

While waiting for my zippers to arrive I got a chance to dive into a project that has been on my mind for months. And it involves paper napkins. No not kidding.

Let me explain my situation. At our dinner table we haven't been using a napkin dispenser because the napkins we buy just aren't the right size. Who would have thought there was a wide array of napkin sizes in the world? Well, that's how it turns out.

Because of this conundrum we've been using more facial tissues than napkins and I thought that wasn't a good practice. Especially when Kleenex doesn't run cheap.

Then a few months ago I found on some blog a picture of a homemade fabric holder for those traveling tissue packs that they sell. I thought that same design would work perfectly with our napkins. So I finally put this idea into effect a couple days ago and quickly found out that it was a total flop. Napkins, unlike facial tissues, aren't stacked in such a way that the second napkin is folded into the first napkin to result in follow-the-leader. Nope, they just are placed one on top of the other.

No matter, I found an alternative solution in the form of this:

(The front)

(The back)

What is pictured above is my fabric napkin dispenser that I recently sewed together based solely on a relatively vague idea. Well, most ideas start vague until you get the ball rolling, right?

Let me show you how it works. The piece is made up of two layers of fabric that form a pocket:

 

The paper napkins are housed in this pocket for easy access. And to refill the pocket when napkins run out, the zipper that runs along a side and the bottom of the pocket is unzipped to open out the pocket.

You can't see it in the pictures but I used slippery black lining on the inside of the pocket. I chose to do this to allow for the napkins to slide out easily.

Next time around I would do two things differently. I would only have a zipper on one side of the pocket--not a side and the bottom. The pocket doesn't need to open that much to insert the napkins; just one side will do. I also will avoid stitching so close to the zipper teeth. Because each zipper tape (both left and right) are sandwiched between two layers of fabric, the zipper slider sometimes runs over the fabric and lodges itself. Not what I want.

I really enjoyed breaking out this little project and starting from scratch. I typically go by a pattern so this was a good change for me. And I got to do something I haven't done in months: embroider. May be just a bit of back stitch but even that is a real pleasure for me.