Crumple My Napkin, Why Don't You?

Most of the work I did while I was living in Rome had to do with textiles, and as the year progressed it had more and more to do with textiles as they relate to meals, such a central element of Roman life.

Drying dyed fabric in the courtyard of the Palazzo where I lived:



I scoured the stalls of Porta Portese, the great local flea market, for linens to be reused -- printed on, sewn and embroidered. I was doing quite a bit of sewing that year. One of the funnest little projects I developed involved linen napkins, which Steven and I use to this day.

These are napkins made from antique linen, with images of napkins on them -- a celebration of the practice of using napkins, and I have always loved the baroque forms of crushed fabric -- and I have been thinking of making more of these:













These are for less formal occasions, and more forgiving in terms of color. The patterning has also been simplified:



I plan to start reproducing these. So much fun.