These are our everyday cloth napkins, six sets. They're the napkins that we use for everyday meals and snacks. Six sets may seem like a lot of cloth napkins. However, I've been collecting sets of fabric napkins for about 40 years and I haven't retired a set yet.
The set of the left, the sage green napkins, I sewed to go with a Christmas tablecloth for the kitchen table about18 years ago. We also use them in spring, near Easter, with a table topper in a pink and sage green floral pattern.
The next set, the pink set, was given to me by my mother about 40 years ago for a birthday gift. The color went with my everyday dish pattern.
The burgundy set I bought for myself about 40 years ago because they (and matching placemats) were on clearance at the department store where I worked. As a manager, I also received a 30% discount from the clearance price. The deal was too good to pass up. The store practically paid me to take these home. Anyway, we use the burgundy napkins year round, depending on my mood. I especially like these because of their dark color. The color hides stains really well compared to some of our lighter-colored napkins.
The next set of napkins is a tan, green, and gold autumn pattern that I mostly use in fall. I bought these napkins at Marshall's about 15 years ago to use at Thanksgiving one year. As it turned out, we liked them well enough to use for daily meals as well.
The pastel plaid napkins are a set of four napkins that my mother sewed for me when I was 21 years old. I was young, living on my own, dating someone who was also on a tight budget and we picnicked a lot for our dates, sometimes just us, sometimes with another couple. My mother put together a picnic basket of plastic dishes, cutlery, and these fabric napkins for me to use on picnic dates. I still use these for picnicking and remember my mother's love that went into sewing them for me.
The last set of napkins, the pink floral napkins, I bought at target about 15 years ago to go with some similar placemats that we use mostly in spring. These napkins have that romantic, English countryside vibe that I love so much.
It was my mother who got me started on collecting cloth napkins, which seems odd as we were a paper napkin family when I was growing up. But somehow my mother could see something inside of me that would enjoy using cloth napkins and would appreciate using fewer single-use items in my daily life, such as paper napkins.
Don't get me wrong. We do use paper napkins on occasion. I've found that guests often prefer paper napkins, as they don't have to worry about staining napkins when blotting their mouths or wiping fingers. So I keep my eyes open for nice paper napkins in the package at garage sales and clearance after season sales. We also use paper napkins when on road trips. I'd hate to lose a fabric napkin at a rest stop or in a hotel room. For the rest of our meals, we really are happier using the cloth napkins.
If you're wondering, I wash the cloth napkins along with the dish towels, rags, and other linens twice a week. We have enough of each pattern that there are back-ups in case any get too dirty to use again. Otherwise, we each use our own napkin for a few meals, leaving them neatly folded on the kitchen table at each individual's place.
Cloth napkins are more rugged and durable than most paper napkins. Once a paper napkin is used, it looks used. I think a fabric napkin can look fresh, if folded neatly, for a couple of meals. But I also can see the merits of paper napkins. They are more hygienic in the sense that you're likely to replace a paper napkin with each meal. And you can take food to go wrapped in a paper napkin and not worry about bringing the napkin back home. And staining a napkin is not even a consideration with paper napkins.
What do you think? Do you prefer cloth or paper napkins? Do you use a mix of both?
