Felt leaf napkin rings and placecards for Thanksgiving
Decorations & Favors, Free Patterns, Holidays, Paper Crafts, Under $10, Under 1 Hour
This is our fifth year hosting Thanksgiving in Chicago for the twelve members of our joint families. Each year we try to do something slightly different for food and table decor.
I constrained myself to come up with an idea solely using things here at home because (a) my craft closet is to the brim and (b) trekking to Joann Fabrics on a cold Sunday in Chicago is none too appealing.
So using a leftover pack of chocolate paper placecards from our wedding, extra felt from my campfire coffee cozy, and orphaned buttons, I came up with this easy and festive felt leaf concept for the table — no sewing machine required (yay!).
You’re welcome to use these instructions and templates for free for your own personal use. Anyone using the template simply post a comment below or email me to track its usage.
Supplies:
- Kathy’s free templates for leaf placecards in Adobe Photoshop (also available in PowerPoint) and felt leaf napkin rings (PDF)
- Chocolate brown felt
and gold felt
- Orange embroidery floss
- Disappearing ink fabric marking pen
- 8 1/2″ x 11″ white or cream paper
- Rotary fabric cutter
- Clear fabric ruler
- Self-healing mat
- Pack of pre-cut chocolate brown placecards
- Good paper scissors and good fabric scissors (yep, you should own both)
Table
- White buffet plates
- Buffet silverware
- Wine glasses
- Water glasses
- Orange napkins
- Yellow tablecloth
Felt leaf napkin rings. Print out my free leaf template pattern. Choose one or more leaf shapes and cut out to use as a pattern.
Trace your leaf pattern onto the gold felt and cut out. Use disappearing ink pen if you can; because mine is dry I used a Sharpie and just cut inside the lines to make up for it.
Cut your brown rings 7″ wide x 1.5″ tall using a rotary cutter
and rotary mat
. Measure 1/2″ from the left side and cut a slit halfway through (so your slit will be half of the 1.5″ tall). Repeat on the right side, but make sure the slit is opposite like in the photo above.
Place your leaf in the middle of the brown ring. Place a small button on top. Sew through the button, leaf and ring using orange embroidery thread. Tie a knot in the back.
Roll your napkin. Wrap the napkin ring around and slip the napkin ring slits together like so.
Placecards. Open my free template in Adobe Illustator or PowerPoint. Type the names of your guests. I used the Bell Gothic Standard font so if you don’t have it, switch to your desired font.
Print and cut out the leaves.
Cut a gold felt square; any shape will be fine. Layer the gold square on top of the placecard, then the leaf and the button. Sew through all layers using orange embroidery thread. Bring on the sweet potatoes and corn casserole!
COPYRIGHT NOTE: You’re more than welcome to use this project and pattern for your own personal use. Please post a comment below or email me if you use the template so I can smile when I see that it’s being used.
Comments (32)
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| By Kathy on 11/23/2008
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November 18th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Thanks, Lindsey! I hadn’t seen your new Spotlight yet – I just submitted it today. Thanks for thinking of me. And Happy Thanksgiving!
November 15th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
These are so cute! I love the tutorial for this. Would you be interested in submitting this to the Make and Takes spotlight page? I think it would be perfect. http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
October 19th, 2011 at 4:45 am
I hope to use these this Thanksgiving!
August 1st, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Nice Thanksgiving idea thank you
February 17th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I love this idea! I’m so excited to try it out!
November 24th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Thanks for the template! Will be using this year! check out my blog and hopefully by Friday I will get some pics up!
November 24th, 2010 at 12:13 am
I can’t wait to make these for Thanksgiving! I love how beautifully clean and simple they are. Thanks for taking the time to design them and then share them with us!
November 23rd, 2010 at 11:02 am
What a lovely idea — using these this weekend for family Thanksgiving. Thank you!
November 19th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I hope to use these for my Thanksgiving Table this year. We are expecting probably around 16 to 18 people and not all family so wanted the table to be pretty without a lot of expense. Thank you for letting me use your templates.
November 15th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
I will be making these placecards for my table this Sunday (College Kids Fakesgiving)! These are perfect. Where can I send a picture?
November 12th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I’m sharing this on my blog today. :o)
November 4th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Thanks! I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year and hope to be able to use these patterns to help me decorate the table!
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I did a post on my blog about felt napkin rings that were pretty cute but your tutorial is great! Thanks I just love the name cards these are super great! Glad I just happened on your site~ I’ll be back again.
October 30th, 2010 at 9:10 am
I am definitely making these for our Thanksgiving spread this year. Thank you so much for sharing!
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:40 am
I love them. I’ll try to make them, too. Thanks for sharing your ideas …and for the instructions!
October 18th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Thanks for posting all of your great fall projects to the FaveCrafts blog hop! I can’t wait to see what you post next month :)
September 25th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Am looking forward to using these ideas for this Thanksgiving! thanks
May 18th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Hi Dina, that’s a good idea. Definitely great for fall weddings. Thanks for stopping by!
May 14th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
its so cute it cn also b used as a wedding theme ide =)
November 24th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Thanks so much for the design!! I’m going to make it, but instead of separate placecards, I’m attaching the name leaves right to the button on the napkin ring (will cut a slit in the cards so they slide on and off). I love it!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Love the super cute felt leaf napkin rings. Would love to use this for our personal Thanksgiving celebration table! Thank you for your great idea!
-Eileen
October 31st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
These are very cute!! They are simple and crisp and seasonal and I love them! I posted a link for you at childmade.com.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Really wonderful! I also made some napkin rings from items I had around the house!
Check it out…..
http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2009/09/make-elegant-fall-napkin-rings-that-you-can-use-anytime.html