I know that wedding lists take out the trouble, effort and frustration of having to find a gift for the happy couple, but I think it also removes the personal side of things. For the last few weddings I have been to I have chosen to make the happy couple a gift, one that is personal and unique to them and something I hope that they will treasure for the rest of their lives together.
The most recent gift that I gave was for a couple that love camping and having dinner parties. I decided it would be a nice idea to give them one of those great stackable tiffin boxes that you can get in a variety of colours and sizes, and are everywhere in the summer (just in time for picnics). Along with these boxes I gave them a Camping recipe book written by the scouts and last but not least, the handmade gift… a set of linen napkins.
I wanted to make something that would be a representation of the couple and their style. Their wedding invitations were a great mix of Tattoo art, Fairground style graphics, Victorian style animal sketches and all screen printed by hand.
The napkin design needed to be something that would be a homage to the wedding style. With a few ideas in mind I had a few options available to me. Do I buy plain napkins and sew straight onto them for by the fabric and make everything from scratch? I’m not one to make things easy for myself, so after buying some plain ones and not liking them I chose to take a little visit to Cloth House. I love this shop and I could to be able to some serious damage to my bank balance if unrestrained! I found a piece of linen in great oatmeal colour that would help to mimic the invitations, plus it was as it was the last of the roll, a slightly odd measurement, meaning it was on sale.
Using the previously purchased napkins as a template, I cut out 6 napkins with enough seam allowance for the folded hem. Once the all of the edges were sewn and pressed it was time to start the design. After various sketches the final design was reached. for one of the corners would be a copy of the dove that had been used on the invitations, holding a heart in its mouth. For the heart I decided to use some of the dinky little heart buttons I had left over from a previous project.
After cutting out a template for the dove, and drawing it onto each napkin, ensuring that it was in the same place on each one, I was ready to sew. I usually like to use DMC embroidery silks (something My mum has passed down) but on this occasion, and lack of availability it was to be Anchor instead.
The dove and stars were sewn using a stem/outline stitch, trying to keep it small and delicate on both sides of the napkin. The eye was sewn using a double French knot, something that took a few attempts until it was tight enough.
After sewing the main dove in one shade of blue it was clear that some further definition was needed, which lead to the highlights being added with a lighter blue and white.
The most time consuming aspect of the project was most definitely the dove, but once these had been completed all on six the Stars and numbers were pretty quick to finish with. To make the napkins more personal for the betrothed couple I wanted to add the wedding date. I played about the placement, considering inserting the number in the stars, on the border or by the dove, but finally settling on the opposite corner, making the overall design more balanced.
Overall I am pleased the final design, and I the happy couple seemed so too.
As with most projects that have not been done before there is always room for improvement. There are certain elements of elements of each napkins that is slightly different, adding to the unique individuality of the gift.