DIY Personalized Napkins

DIY Personalized Napkins: Use heat transfer vinyl and a cutting machine to add any phrase, or monogram to napkins for a custom look.

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• How To Make DIY Personalized Napkins:

This month for our #12MonthsOfDIY challenge we’re working with vinyl.  I used the heat transfer vinyl from Expressions Vinyl and made some custom napkins.  They were really easy to make and I love how they turned out.

Vinyl is such a versatile material, there are endless things you can do with it.  I thought it would be fun to do something with the iron-on vinyl and add some text to fabric napkins.  I added “life is a party” to mine -I love how fun and festive they are.

This is a really easy, inexpensive way to add a special detail to entertaining.

Materials:

• heat transfer vinyl
• Cricut cutting machine
• napkins
• iron

How To Make DIY Personalized Napkins:

I already had a cutting machine -gathering dust in the basement.  I have an old Cricut -I think the last time I really used it might have been for my Fall Subway Art.  They’ve changed since I got mine about 6 years ago, but I plugged it in and it worked great.  They’re actually really easy to use too.

Creating the Design

I used the cartridge that came with the machine -Plantin SchoolBook.  I cut out my letters in ¾” size and used this chart from Expressions Vinyl to figure out my cutting speed, pressure and blade depth (med., med., 3 in my case).

Cutting the Vinyl

On my first attempt, I flipped the text, but didn’t realize I also needed to type it backwards.  Second attempt I flip cut and typed the letters backwards and it worked out great. (This is because you're cutting on the flip side of the vinyl).

I cut out all four together, and weeded them all together (that’s what they call removing all the negative pieces of vinyl in the cut-out).

Next, I used scissors to cut out each phrase individually.

Iron On

Then you just iron it onto your napkins.  I used some pieces of linen look fabric I actually picked up at the dollar store.  Their colour and texture are really nice.  When I washed them the edges frayed and I really like it, so I decided against hemming them.  That made this a super simple project.

I love how they turned out -I made four, but I think I just might need to make this into a set of twelve.

DIY Personalized Napkins

You could customize the napkins with anything…think holidays, weddings, names, manners, conversations starters.  The sky's the limit.

With DIY Personalized Napkins, life really is a party!

You might also like our Dip Dyed Runner and Napkins here.

Also check out our Ribbon Wall Hanging here.

You might also enjoy our DIY Burlap Table Runner here.