Gift Ideas - In The Kitchen and at the Table
By Cameron
I love to make kitchen and dining items as gifts because I’ll know they’ll be useful and constantly in rotation, even if they’re slightly less than perfect. I’ve put together a few ideas to help get your holiday making jump started.
Napkins
There are two types of people in the world - people that use cloth napkins at home, and people that shun them as too fancy for an everyday meal. A gift of handmade napkins that you can throw in the washer and dryer will bring even the most passionate napkin avoiding, pants-wiping person in to the napkin fold (pun intended).
Napkins are a great opportunity to use fabric that you adore too much to chop up. You can make napkins up in almost any fabric from quilting cottons to canvas.
We have lots of great napkin inspiration on the blog. Check out the links below for some ideas!
Dish Towels
It doesn’t get any easier, or more useful, than dish towels. We do offer a variety of already finished dish cloths, including the charming Oregon-Washington tea towels that I plan on sending out to most of the people on my list.
We have a big selection of cotton dish towelling by the yard right now. Below is just small sampling - our fruit themed toweling and a line up of stripes. 
My favorite is our beautiful French-inspired, cotton-linen blend dish towelling that would be perfect for the serious bread baker or Francophile in your life. The texture and durability of the linen are ideal for working with sticky dough and the rustic charm will brighten up any kitchen. I also think these would make lovely napkins.
We have a couple of dish towel embroidery patterns for dedicated Northwesterner. We also have floursack tea towels perfect for using with the many awesome Sublime Stitching patterns we stock or your own original design!
Finally, huck towelling is a simple and very absorbent 100% cotton towelling. Hannah shares a few great ways to add some color to your huck towelling here.
Table Runners and Place Mats
Table runners and placemats add some color to your meals and can make clean up easier, which is always appreciated. I even been working on a log cabin table runner using the American Made Brand solids. I love the bright and cheery colors so much that I may need to make another for my own table. 
Here are a few more ideas to get you started.
- A long cut of dish towelling can make a cute, quick, and easy table runner.
- Pieced placemats by Amy.
- Burlap can be a lovely and oh so fast, homespun table runner option. Cut to your desired size and pull out three to four threads on each side to create a little fringe.
- Follow Amy’s fringed napkin tutorial for either placemats or a table runner - just use more fabric!
If you’re looking for more inspiration for your holiday gift giving, I can recommend Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing and Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand. Both have simple, useful, and lovely projects for the kitchen and table which would make perfect hand made gifts. Come on in and take a look!
P.S. Be sure to check out Hannah’s recent tutorial on pot holders for another idea!