EMBROIDERED NAPKINS

Make your dinner guests feel extra-special by giving them personalised napkins.

YOU WILL NEED

✽ Napkins ✽ Needle ✽ Embroidery threads ✽ Tailor’s chalk (optional) ✽ Wool ✽ Cardboard or small book, about 9-10cm wide with a 2cm spine ✽ Scissors

TO MAKE

❶ Hand-embroider a name on to one corner of each napkin, using a simple running stitch for each letter. (You may wish to write it lightly in tailor’s chalk first.) To create the flower pictured below the name, use single stitches for the petals, and three French knots for the centre.

❷ To make the tassel napkin ring, wrap wool around a small book or piece of

cardboard 30 to 40 times or so. Carefully slide the wool ‘ring’ off the book or cardboard, holding it so it stays in a rough circle. Cut through the wool circle once and push all the cut ends together. At the opposite end (where the wool is bent round, not cut), tie a piece of wool around 2cm down to form the ‘top’ of the tassel. Trim the tassel if it’s too long.

❸ Take some embroidery thread in a contrasting colour and wrap it around the tassel several times. Knot it in place at the back, then continue to wind it around the napkin, fastening it into a bow at the back. Cut off excess thread.