Serviettenapkin Basket Recipes

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, MARIE'S LILY PAD VARIATION, LOTUS

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a square shape.
• Take the top right corner and fold the point into the center point of the square. Repeat with the other 3 corners. You should have a diamond shape in front of you.
• Take the East point of this diamond and fold it into the center point, and repeat with the other 3 corners. The serviette will be square again and have gaps in the form of an X.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and fold each of the corners into the centerpoint again.
• Carefully turn it over and you will see 4 loose points on the underside.(this step is only to make the next step clearer).
• Turn back over to the previous side, lay the serviette down and press firmly on the center point where the 4 corners meet. Carefully reach undernieth with your other hand and grab one of the loose points on the underside and bring it to the outside of the corner that it belongs to. This creates the outer petal of that quarter of the flower.
• Repeat with the other 3 corners.
• At this point you have the napkin that I call Marie's Lily Pad Flower. but the Lotus calls for an extra step.
• Reach undernieth again and you will find a second layer of 4 flaps on the bottom, gently pull them out to the front side ( hold the centre points firmly so that everything stays intact) and you will have a fuller looking flower that has additional petals/ leaves at the sides, inbetween the main petals. This addition turns the napkin into a "Lotus".

SERVIETTE NAPKIN FOLDING , BASIC WITH NAPKIN RING

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you. Fold it in half horizontally.
• Take the serviette and fold it in half again vertically so that it is now a small square a quarter the size of the origonal square.
• Only one corner of the square will have 4 open / loose edges, rotate your square so that it is a flat diamond shape with the open corner pointing downwards. We will call this the South corner, and the top corner opposite North.
• Grasp your serviette about 2/3 of the ways up and starting at point that is on the East side of your serviette, make 5 folds or pleats more or less the same size, folding/ pleating towards from the East point to the West point.
• Slip your Serviette Ring over the north point and gently pull downwards so that only the top 1/3 of the serviette goes though the ring. Keep the north point of the serviette nicely centered.
• Spread the bottom half out the serviette into a fan formation so that both halves are equal and it looks pleasingly balanced.The top of the serviette should taper gently up to the North point and if wanted a small flower can be inserted into the fold at the top and down into the napkin ring.
• Place on empty plate.

SIMPLE SERVIETTE/NAPKIN, POCKET WITH POINTED TOP

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you. Fold it in half horizontally.
• Take the serviette and fold it in half again vertically so that it is now a small square a quarter the size of the origonal square.
• Only one corner of the square will have 4 open / loose edges, rotate your square so that it is a flat diamond shape with the open corner pointing downwards. We will call this the South corner, and the top corner opposite North.
• Take one of the East corners and roll it under towards the middle of the serviette so that you have a roll about 2 inched (5 cm) wide.The other East corner is still laying flat completing the diamond shape behind this.
• Take the remaining East corner and fold it backwards about 1 inch ( 2.5 cm) above the first fold).
• Now fold the pinted sided towards the back, tucking them in and completing the serviette.
• Place on a plate with the smooth front side up.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, MARIE'S LILY PAD FLOWER

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a square shape.
• Take the top right corner and fold the point into the center point of the square. Repeat with the other 3 corners. You should have a diamond shape in front of you.
• Take the East point of this diamond and fold it into the center point, and repeat with the other 3 corners. The serviette will be square again and have gaps in the form of an X.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and fold each of the corners into the center point again.
• Carefully turn it over and you will see 4 loose points on the underside.(this step is only to make the next step clearer).
• Turn back over to the previous side, lay the serviette down and press firmly on the center point where the 4 corners meet. Carefully reach underneath with your other hand and grab one of the loose points on the underside and bring it to the outside of the corner that it belongs to. This creates the outer petal of that quarter of the flower.
• Repeat with the other 3 corners.
• If you are not putting something in the center of this serviette you may need to carefully secure the 4 central points with a pin.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN, DRAMATIC FAN

Steps:

• Place your serviette flat before you in a square shape.
• Carefully make accordion pleats from the very bottom of the serviette to the very top. You will have before you a long thin rectangular strip of pleated material.
• Starting at one end of the strip, carefully roll it up until you reach the 2/3 mark of the strip.
• Lay the spiral shape down so that it sits upright and gently fan out the last section that isn't rolled up.
• Holding the rolled up spiral section firmly, reach into the centre of the spiral and pull it the beginning edge and form it into a a small peak in the center.
• Arrange the serviette on a plate for dramatic effect.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, FRENCH PLEAT WITH POCKET

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you. Fold it in half horizontally.
• Take the serviette and fold it in half again vertically so that it is now a small square a quarter the size of the original square.
• Only one corner of the square will have 4 open / loose edges, rotate your square so that it is a flat diamond shape with the loose edges pointing upwards. We will call this the North corner.
• Take the topmost of these points and make a relatively tight roll towards the South position, at about the half way point you won't be able to roll any further and you will have a diagonal neat cuff going east/west across the diamond shape.
• Now take the next loose corner at North and gently bring it South, tucking it underneath the cuff that you just made in the previous step but leaving a pleat showing above, the same width of the cuff below. You will now have two diagonal neat cuffs/pleats going east/west across the diamond shape.
• Then take the next loose point at North and bring it to the South position, and still holding the point, start rolling it under itself heading towards the North position, at about the half way point you won't be able to roll any further and you will have a third horizontal neat cuff going east/west across the diamond shape that's next to the second one.
• Rotate your diamond shape so that the North point is now the top right corner and you have a square shape in front of you with three diagonal pleats running from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.
• Gently turn the serviette over and bring the top right and bottom right corners into the center. Repeat with the top left and bottom left corners.
• Turn back to the front side and you will have a very neat rectangle that has three diagonal pleats running across it.
• An elegant and stylish serviette that will impress any guest.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, EASY MAKE-IN-ADVANCE

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you. Fold it in half horizontally.
• Take the serviette and fold it in half again vertically so that it is now a small square a quarter the size of the origonal square.
• Only one corner of the square will have 4 open / loose edges, rotate your square so that it is a flat diamond shape with the open corner pointing downwards. We will call this the South corner, and the top corner opposite North.
• Take the uppermost of the loose points at the South position and fold it up to meet the North point.
• Take the next loose point at South position and also fold it towards the north point but stop short of it so that you have a triangle within a triangle.
• Repeat with the remaining two loose points so that you now have a set of ever decreasing triangles on the front of your triangular serviette. If you have time, press these with an iron so that you have crisp sharp creases ( this does improve the result immensely).
• Carefuly turn the serviette over and take the bottom right point and bring it up to a central point midway along the edge between the bottom left point and the top at North.
• Repeat with the remaining corner. Iron the creases.
• Turn the serviette over again to show off the neat front side.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN, BASKET

Steps:

• Lay your serviette out flat before you in a square.
• Take the top left and top right corner and bring them 1/3rd of the way down the square.
• Now take the bottom left and bottom right corners and bring them up to meet the new corners at the top. You will have before you a long rectangle that is 1/3rd the width of your original servietter square.
• Take the top let and bottom let corners and fold them 2/3rd of the way towards the right.
• Place your finger about half way down the line that now runs vertically down the serviette at the 2/rd mark, and with your other hand, bring the bottom right corner of the flap folded in the previous step, up to meet your finger in the center. This should produce a horizontal band in the center if the left 2/3rd of the serviette, and the bottom left corner should turn into a triangle.
• Now repeat by bringing the top right corner of the flap at 2/3rds down to meet the bottom crease fold of the band you just made. Once it's flattened out it there will second band directly above the first and another triangle will appear in the top left corner of the serviette.
• Take the free end of the band in the center of the serviette and fold it back over to the left so that it sticks out to the left, past the left edge of the serviette.
• Now take the top right and bottom right of the serviette and bring it over to the left so that what *were* the right edges of the serviette not are level with the outer edge of the band that's sticking out on the left. You will have before you a square shape.
• Place your finger in the center of the left edge and with your other hand, bring the bottom left corner up to meet your finger. This should make a flat horizontal band in the middle again and a triangle will form in the bottom right corner.
• Finish this band by bringing the top left corner of the serviette down to meet the bottom crease mark of the band you have just made, and as before a second band will form directly above the first and the last triangle should form in the top right corner.
• As with the previous side, take the long loose end of the band on the left and fold it back on itself so that it sticks out on the right side. Your serviette will now look something like a rowboat with very fat oars in the middle that stick out on each side.
• Place your fingers inside the triangles in the center of the serviette and holding the left and right ends very firmly, turn the serviette inside out. It will look a tad messy at first but the square box form should be there, and I neatened mine up considerably by easing everything into place.
• To make this serviette really impressive, carefully hold the little serviette basket open on each side in turn, while ironing the inside of the four sides.
• Fill your basket with a bread roll, a cookie, a few crackers, a small gift, party favours and confetti -- in fact, whatever takes your fancy.