Azulejo style – Handprinted napkins

When I came across those beautiful handcrafted wooden stamps from Blockwallah (in Germany sold by Rayher) at one of my latest visits to my favourite craft shop, I just couldn’t pass. So many different patterns – and aren’t all of them just amazing? I really had a hard to decide which to take!

After some first trials on paper (great handcrafted christmas wrapping paper!) I really wanted to use it on fabric and create this beautiful tiled look. Doesn’t the outcome look like those beautiful portugues azulejos?

For the handprinted fabric I chose a natural coloured jute fabric. As the Blockwallah stamps are made of wood, it is recommended to use them on a soft surface – both when printing on fabric or on paper. Especially if you’re printing larger pieces of fabric like I did it’s very practical to use your iron board.It’s also good to use a sponge to apply the paint on the stamp.

Since my first experiments with handprinting fabrics I’m using Pébéo textile colours. They have a beautiful range of colours and the quality is compelling. They don’t create a stiff gummy surface but get soaked into the fabric. The sealing is done by heat. After doing this usually by ironing the fabric, I tested the oven version this time – I didn’t want to iron for ages … just put the fabric in the oven for 5 minutes at 150°C and you’re done. Although I guess this is save, I stayed in the kitchen and kept an eye on the fabric.

Napkins seemed to me just the right purpose for this handprinted fabric (and a good christmas present). They’re totally easy to sew, even a kid can do this. The star is the fabric!

I started with cutting squares measuring 40 x 40 cm, one of the handprinted fabric, one of turquoise lightweight cotton fabric for each napkin. [If both fabrics are rather lightweight, I would recommend to use some iron-on interfacing to give some stability.] Now place them right sides together, sew all around leaving a small hole for turning. Turn napkin inside out. Iron flat and topstich. That’s it.

As my napkins have two different sides, I folded them with alternating fabric on the outside. Tied together with some lace fabric they look so nice … I would like to keep them for hosting my guests!