Make Your Own Cloth Napkins
Monday July 7, 2008
With all of the attention that living green has gotten these days, you've no doubt heard that cloth napkins are better for the environment. But, what you may not have heard is that they're better for your bank account too.
Since cloth napkins can be used again and again, you don't have to keep spending money on napkins month-after-month like you do with disposables. Just buy enough cloth napkins to meet your family's needs, and you won't have to buy napkins again. Better yet, don't buy any napkins at all. Instead, dig through your fabric stash for some suitable fabric, and make your own cloth napkins. Just three simple steps, and you're done!
Photo Credit: debaird
Sadly cloth napkins are in no way better.
Even washed by hand the amount of water used to wash them is quite wasteful. Most people are going to use washing machines wasting gallons of water and dumping huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the water supply which then have to be removed – waste, waste waste.
Paper napkins (and most paper products) are produced using pulp from tree farms – trees are grown just to be used for paper and are replanted to keep a constant steady supply available. Paper used to be a green ‘no no’ due to deforestation but paper companies realized they were going to put themselves out of business with such practices and have since become much more green.
Very nice cloth napkins though!
The cloth napkin vs. paper napkin issue, like many green issues, isn’t a simple one to be sure. I come out in favor of cloth napkins for several reasons. First, I think buying less is always the greenest choice. Even if you buy paper napkins made from sustainably grown trees, you are removing (even if temporarily) trees from the environment, which means less trees to clean up all of the CO2s that we create. I also think that the bleach, dyes, energy and packaging that goes into making paper napkins needs to be considered. It’s true that choosing to use cloth napkins means choosing to wash cloth napkins, but even that can be done in an environmentally-friendly manner. Green detergents can be used, grey water can be captured and reused — and really, a week’s worth of napkins doesn’t take up much space in a wash load.
I had some old sheets that we no longer used. They were for a single bed and we do not have a single bed in the house. I cut the sheets into squares and made myself some cloth napkins. I love them. I made enough to last us two weeks or more so washing them is not a problem.
I went to cloth napkins too, but I bought just cheap-o washcloths from the dollar store to use. I wasn’t so much concerned with ‘going green’ as I was with buying the stupid things all the time. I also went to cloth rags for doing most clean-up jobs around the house (as opposed to paper towels) because I got sick of buying those too. With 3 kids (2 who know how to use napkins/towels now), it was getting ridiculous buying these things. I didn’t find it adds a lot to the wash. I wash a few with every load, mostly, and it doesn’t add up much.
I recently made some cloth napkins out of my husband’s and my old dress shirts. I embroidered them with floss I had on hand, so this project was fun, functional and free!
I have some ole bandannas that were my dads, I use them for napkins, having them at a meal time brings good memories of family meals together when I was young. Have a blessed day!!
I have made cloth napkins for years, and would never go back. I am trying to teach my 2 year old grandson NOT to wipe his geasy hands on his pants. In terms of saving resources, cloth napkins save your clothing, sometimes can grab a spill before it wrecks a rug…all kinds of reasons they are worth the water used to wash them. Family napin holders can save a lot of laundry – each member uses the same one until it is dirty. See my blog entry on a recent napkin “cut up” at http://www.anniegreenjeans.com I linked to this site as well…let’s pass the word!!!
I also have recycled a piece of clothing into cloth napkins. I had a red floral print sun dress bought at a thrift shop that I loved and wore for several years, until the elastic smocking in the back wore out. The skirt became a set of eight napkins that we use all the time. An added plus: the red print conceals any permanent stains from tomato sauces.
Cloth napkins are great! we’ve been using them only for the last 4(?) years. I had bought several sets inexpensively but will be making some to make up for the older ones. I also use place mats and towels to dry my hands at the kitchen sink. When you change them weekly you have a nice but small load to wash. Include dish towels and inside-out baggies. Read the Tightwad Gazette books and you will see the author figure out how money saving having cloth napkins(and so many other things)are!
In my opinion, cloth napkins are just the way to go. One, should just wash the cloth napkins with their regular laundry and it should resolve the issue of waste, waste, waste … my opinion anyways … have a blessed day!!!
I am trying this now. Instead of finding old clothes, I went to the scrap section of Walmart’s fabric section. There my daughter picked out some butterfly material for her napkins and was under a $1. We check the scrap section everytime to see if we can get some more kid prints.