A few years ago, a crafty friend who was invited to a last minute birthday party whipped together a set of stunning napkins from a yard of material by cutting squares from it and hemming each of the squares on all four sides. A quick iron and the gift was good to go … and it’s one that’s turned up on many table settings since.

A selection from the huge range of patterns, colours and prints from Designer Fabrics

I love the idea of creating napkins for your tables at a wedding, especially when you come across that fabric that is so perfect it makes you smile. As we enter into spring and summer, outdoor, casual feasting becomes more and more common, and by making a set of colourful, fanciful napkins you can add a pretty dash of colour and a whack of personality to your party with this single décor element.

Use different fabrics to coordinate and identify different tables,  or mix and match from sets of 8 or 12 which you can use down the road on your kitchen table. You can even stamp your napkins with a monogram, date or image to make them even more personal and if you’re super keen, create a second set, tie them in pairs with matching ribbon and voilà, a darling token of the day for your guests.

Butter coloured fabric swatches from

Queen Street’s Designer Fabrics is a visual playground for established designers and newbies alike, check out their online selection and order some samples to test your colour choices with the rest of your décor, alternatively, there are Etsy sellers who produce original fabrics and retail vintage material, Sky Reve Fabrics is particularly good at putting collections of prints together.