Jo-Ann “Celebrate the Season” Turkey Napkin Basket DIY

The folks at Jo-ann asked me to create a DIY project for the Thanksgiving holiday, and sent me a Jo-Ann gift card to buy supplies. This time the theme was “turkey tablescapes”. I decided early on that I wanted to come up with something that was both decorative & functional. Our table is somewhat narrow and when we have large meals for holidays some times it’s not easy to fit all the foods on the table, so we will set up a buffet table for all the food, and then we can sit comfortably at the table and eat without feeling surrounded by plates on all sides. With that in mind I created this turkey napkin basket, where the tail feathers are actually napkins for your guests to grab as they are loading up their plates. You could even take it a step further and wrap up silverware in the napkins. Here’s what you’ll need to make your own..
basket-I found my basket at Jo-ann for under $5, I went with a darker color to emulate the dark brown turkey body
orange felt– you only need a very small piece for the turkey beak
red felt– this is for the turkey head & waddle
wiggly eyes-there are so many eyes to choose from, you can really give your turkey a fun personality depending on the eyes you pick.
extra wide double bias tape-this is used as trim around the turkey feather napkins so I went with fall colors.
broadcloth-this is what you’ll use to make your napkins. I had my fall colors cut into 3/8ths of a yard. Then at home I was able to cut this down to create 2 square napkins from each color, with some leftover. I cut my napkins to 13×13 inches but you can make them as large or small as you’d like.
hot glue gun
sewing machine
coordinating threads
scissors
scrap cardboard this could be from a cereal box etc.
turkey pattern
1. Print out pattern, pin to felt and cut out pieces. 2 of red felt for turkey head & waddle, and 2 or orange for the beak. Next line up the beak on each side of the head and stitch in place.
2. Now line up your beaks and sew around the outside of your head. Leave the bottom of the neck open.
3. Take an extra piece of felt and sew it along the bottom end of neck, trim any excess. Turn waddle right side out, and tuck the raw ends inward to hide them.
4. Cut a small x shaped hole into the center of the end neck piece and turn your head right side out. Stuff with polyfil.
5. Use glue gun to attach eyes and waddle. Then glue head to one end of the basket.
6. Once the head is glued in place you will notice it will make the basket heavy and it will want to tip to that side. Now once the napkins are inside that won’t happen, but as your guests take napkins your turkey will start to top again. You can weight the bottom of your basket by gluing a few pennies in the bottom, but I just used hot glue, and then covered the glue with a circle of cardboard cut from a cereal box. The cardboard circle could also be used to hide any pennies.
7. Now it’s time to sew the napkins using 13×13 inch squares of broadcloth, and the double fold bias tape. Take one square and pick a different color of bias tape.
8. You’ll notice the bias tape opens up like a folder, so you can easily pin it in place around the edge of your napkin. When you get to the corners refer to the drawing above. Pin your binding until you get close to the corner, then fold binding downwards to form the corner.
9. Then fold binding around the corner and pin into place. Continue the entire way around your napkin, when you get to the end cut the seam binding so it overlaps the beginning of your seam binding.
10. Use sewing machine and matching thread to sew in place around the entire edge of binding. Repeat for each napkin.
You can download a coupon for 50% off a regular priced item for Joanne here.