Comments for Polka Dot Cottage

Comment on Those napkins by Marty

Marty — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:38:35 +0000

Love the colors. I have a basket full of everyday napkins I made out of an old sheet. That way I don’t care if they stain and I can wash them in hot water. But I should make some new ones out of nice fabrics. You’re giving me the itch!
✿ Enjoy this post from Marty: He’s Home ✿

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by Polka Dot Cottage: Those napkins

Polka Dot Cottage: Those napkins — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:44:38 +0000

[...] got the urge to deal with them today. Rather suddenly, in fact, while in the midst of packing and shipping orders. I had just [...]

Comment on Progress by Robin

Robin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:05:38 +0000

The Postal Carrier should have a smile on her face, they get paid a percantage for all pkgs. I didn’t know this until my mail carrier told me, he said the month of december I made him a little extra money

Comment on The book pile, volume one by Cool Book images | New Cool Products

Cool Book images | New Cool Products — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:18:04 +0000

[...] The book pile Image by lisaclarke These are the books currently inspiring me. How about you? http://www.lisaclarke.net/2009/05/26/the-book-pile-volume-one/ [...]

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by Nads

Nads — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Maybe IKEA has some similar fabric?

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by Robin Keller

Robin Keller — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:23:51 +0000

You must be my real daughter — no, let’s make that younger sister! I would like to tell you this story. When my daughter was either a sophomore or junior in HS, my husband went out of town for a long weekend. I had a 20+ yr. old kitchen with linoleum floors, warped Formica countertops and aging wood stained cabinets. I decided that I could accomplish a quick renovation over the weekend. All I initiallyI was going to do was strip the wallpaper, and paint the cabinets. Well, I didn’t fully understand that the Sheetrock underneath the wallpaper had paper like layers. I thought I was pulling off wallpaper. I ended up pulling off half of the Sheetrock along with it! I took the cabinet doors off to paint, decided I liked the “country look” of open cupboards so left the doors off of the dish cabinet. The up side of the sheetrock fiasco was that I became an expert at applying drywall mud. The kitchen was a mess for more than a year as were other parts of the house as we were in our “do it yourself” era. The bottom line is, when my daughter was a senior, our state required a statewide English composition assessment. They give the subject, the kid writes. Her subject was ” If you could pass a law, what would it be and why”. She wrote a humorous essay about parents not being allowed to do home improvement projects that never end. She scored in something like the 99th percentile!

About the fabric, love it. Wouldn’t it be a tad less expensive to by the yardage? I think sometimes they tack on a bit for the cuts. I realize it might be harder to get the variety as you would need to by 1/2 yd. cuts to yield the correct measurements, essentially getting 2 fat quarters from each 1/2 yard or of course, 4 from a yard. There’s just two of us now but we go through paper napkins like crazy. I like your idea and am thinking seriously. I like the turned hems but if anyone has a serger, they could do rolled hems very quickly.

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by SallyAnderson

SallyAnderson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:09 +0000

Yep, I did. I sewed a single line about 1/2 inch in from the edges and spent several evenings fringing. I used a straight pin to pull out the threads to get it started and then just started ripping them out. Very zen and therapeutic and totally mindless! HA!

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:02:27 +0000

I’ve been thinking that if this fat quarter collection doesn’t work out, I may just start collecting blue striped fabric from various thrifty sources. As long as I cut and sew them all in the same manner, they should look unified no matter the source…

Fringing the edges sounds much simpler than the hemming I usually do. Did you need to run any kind of stitch around to keep them from fraying too far, or has that not been necessary?

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by SallyAnderson

SallyAnderson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:56:50 +0000

I love this idea of changing the napkins for the seasons! I’ve always used cloth napkins but most were picked up on sale at various places. I also got some homespun (I don’t think that’s the right word — this was a woven fabric, sorta heavy but soft and the weave on one side was different from the other, making them totally reversible) and made tablecloths and napkins from that but all that needed there was to fringe the edges. Piece of cake!
I can understand why a piece of fabric makes you want to redo your whole kitchen. Perfectly rational and sane response in my mind!

Comment on Vintagey stripe envy by Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:34:45 +0000

Hmmm, I don’t want anything heavier than a quilting cotton – I like the napkins to be nice and soft. I think I’ll email them at Fat Quarter Shop and see what they think.

Nice to hear the colors are as lovely in person as they are on the screen!