Serviettenapkin Chic Knot Recipes

STEP BY STEP NAPKIN / SERVIETTE FOLDING

Steps:

• Take your square napkin, lay it totally flat before you, then fold it in half horizontally.
• Fold again, this time vertically so that you have before you a square a quarter the size of your origonal square.
• Only one of the 4 corners will have 4 open or loose edges. Rotate the square before you so that it looks like a diamond with the four open edges pointing to the bottom.
• We will call the points on your diamond shape East, West, North and the open egded bit, South.
• Make a horizontal fold between the East/West points, bringing the open ended South point up to meet, and on top of, the North point.You will now have a little triangle.
• Take the East point of the triangle and fold it in towards the middle. What was the sloping right hand edge of the triangle is now a vertical edge running down the center of the triangle and there is a little flap sticking out at the bottom.
• Take the West point and fold it into the center the same as you did with the previous East edge, the two vertical lines should meet in the middle, and you will have a diamond shape that has two long sides at the top and two short sides (the two little flaps) at the bottom.
• Pick up your diamond shape and fold the two little flap bits at the bottom completely under, so that they only show on the back of the triangle. The front will now look like a steep triangle with a vertical slit down the middle.
• We will call the points of this triangle East, West and North. With the flaps still folded to the back of the tiangle, fold the East and West points backwards until they meet, and gently crease the two folds that form and meet at the North point.
• The slit in the front will have opened and the 4 open points of the napkin will be hidden in layers inside. Pull very gently on them one by one and they will stand up like the sails of a boat. Some people I know call this napkin a boat, some a flower and some the Sydney Opera House.I don't know its' offical name but set onto a plate or into an empty wine glass, this a very elegant addition to a classy table setting.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, SIMPLE FAN VARIATION

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you.
• Take the bottom right and left corners and make an accordion fold strips all the way up to the top right and left corners. If you press these with an iron the pleats will be nice and sharp. Leave unironed for a wavy casual look. (but ironed looks neater) You will now have a thin band the width of your accordion fold.
• Fold the serviette in half so that is is now half it's length and slip a serviette ring over the fold end of the accordion strip and pull gently about 1 inch ( 2.5 cm) up.
• Fan out the accordion pleats at the top to make a pleasing balance to the serviette. Present on a plate.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, TIED IN A LOOSE KNOT.

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a diamond shape.
• Fold the North point of the diamond down to meet the South point of the diamond. You will now have a triangle shape that's pointing downwards.
• Take hold of the South points and start rolling them up towards the North point, stopping fractionally short of the crease at the top.
• Loop the right hand end over the left hand end, pull the right hand end though the resulting hole to form a loose knot.
• Don't pull the knot too tight, just enough to be pleasing and informal.

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.

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, A NECK TIE FOR DAD...

Steps:

• Lay your serviette out flat before you in a diamond shape.
• Take your finger and place it half way between the West and South points, and about 1 inch toward the centre of the serviette. Next, Take the East point at bring it to the point where your finger is. Don't crease this fold (yet).
• Now take the West point of the serviette and bring it over to the East side so that both sides of this new diamons shape are even. Youmay have to adjust the first fold a little to get it looking good, once they are both ok, you can crease both the folds.
• You will have a very fat tie shape.
• Repeat the previous step again completely and you will have a smaller tie shape in front of you now.
• Take the top third of the tie (the narrowest bit) and fold it under and over itself horizontally (the end tip should be tucked undernieth) and the top should now look like the knot of a formal neck tie.
• Place on a plate and surprise the men in your life!

BOW FOLD -- SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING

Steps:

• Place napkin on table with on of the corners facing you.
• Fold top and bottom corners of the napkin to the center.
• Fold up from the bottom so that the napkin is in half.
• Fold up from the bottom again, so that the napkin is in half again.
• Bring each end to the other side so that it resembles a bow.
• Put the napkin ring onto on of the ends of the napkin.
• Pull the folded part through the ring with the end.
• Adjust.