Cloth or Paper

Cloth napkins in an old beat-up napkin holder. (My camera seems unable to capture the color of the napkins with any accuracy, and black and white is so much better than the garish color my camera records.)

I tore the second piece of cloth into 42 napkin size pieces this morning. These are the first 6 hemmed, folded, and placed where we will reach for them instead of paper. I'm nearly out of thread that matches perfectly and now need to decide whether a close match is good, whether contrast is good, or whether to buy some more.

So far, for $14.70, I have a tablecloth big enough to cover my table at its longest, 12 matching napkins, and the promise of 42 thinner everyday napkins. Not bad.

The thing holding me back from switching to cloth has always been the cost of buying the napkins. You need more than just a few if you are using them for everyday. There has to be more to get after some of them get dirty, unless you are willing to handwash after meals. I guess I'm not. But fifteen dollars and some time seems a lot more doable.