I have a rather large table and my table cloths are all looking a bit old, so I decided to make a new one for christmas dinner. I bought some lovely swede effect burgandy material from the market and i've made a really nice table cloth. I have a bit of material left- 48 inches by 16 inches - which not enough to make napkins (i have 9 people coming) but i'd really like to use it on the table somehow. Can anyone think of any ideas? The only thing i can think of is a little drawstring bag for each person with a little gift in, which i put on each plate to open as they sit down..but i have no gifts and chocolates are difficult as one relative is diabetic and won't even eat diabetic chocolates...so can anyone help me? What can i do with this small bit of material?

How about napkin rings? Or you could look up napkin folding and there is a lily type thing that looks great under say a butter dish or condiments basket type thing. We use it under our butter dishes. Jex

does the room your table is in have a mantlepiece or windowsill - you could make a nice mini-runner to cover the top to look all co-ordinated. Or make into thin strips to make bows for the back of the chairs. If you're serving rolls at any point, what about one of those roll holder thingies (somebody a bit brighter than me will know what they're called!)

If you have something to back it with, how about some 'mats' to place hot dishes on so people can serve themselves with veggies etc. Otherwise, I think that the napkin ring/holders sound lovely - perhaps embroider people's initials onto them with gold-coloured thread (if you have some).

Could you hem oblongs/square portions of it to line bread / fruit / sweet baskets and dishes? I like the idea of making it into pads for hot dishes - could you take it a step further and sew spices {cloves, cinnamon, ginger etc} in the middle lining so that thepad releases a nice Christmassy aroma when used? IFKWIM

I made a set of napkins for my picnic basket but didn't have quite enough patterned material for six so did a couple of plain napkins with two narrow strips of the patterned material sewn across.

Thank you for your ideas. I love the idea of using in a basket to serve rolls but i am not serving rolls on christmas day. I will try and do bows on my chairs. Thanks again