Serviettenapkin Folding French Pleat With Pocket Recipes

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.

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a diamond shape.
• Take the South point at the bottom and fold it up to meet the North point at the top. You will now have a triangle with the crease at the bottom.
• Take the East point and bring it over to meet the North point, repeat with the West point. You will now have a small diamond shape with a vertical gap running down the centre.
• Take the South point and bring it towards the North point, but stop 3/4 of the way up.
• Now still holding the south point, bring it back down so that it rests at the centre of the base of the triangle. This is your decorative cuff at the base of the serviette.
• Take right hand loose point in the North position and fold it down so that the point is tucked neatly behind the decorative cuff, repeat with the remaining loose North point.
• Turn the serviette over and gently slip the East and West points one into the other.
• Turn the serviette back to the front side and you will have a standing serviette with two decrative cuffs and a triangle point above. These can be left as is if you wish, or you can take the topmost of the two North points and bring it down and tuck it behind the cuff in the middle.

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.

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.

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you.
• Fold the top and bottom left hand edges to meet the top and bottom right hand edges. You will have a long rectangle with the fold on the left hand edge.
• Fold the bottom short edge up about 1/3 of the way up the rectangle. Then repeat another 1/3 of the way up.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and fold the top and bottom East edge to the centre.
• Repeat with the West edge.
• Carefully turn this over again and you will have a neat package that has a pocket at the bottom into which a nametag, cutlery, flowers or a small gift can be inserted.