How to Fold Napkins

(CC photo by FUJII)

Many restaurants add beauty to their table settings by placing intricately folded napkins on the empty dinner plates or in water goblets.Wikipedia: Napkin Ornately folded napkins can give a formal polish to your dinner table, as well. The napkin folds that follow are best achieved with square, well-starched cloth napkins.

1. Use square napkins when creating napkin folds.
2. Well-starched napkins form the cleanest folds.
3. Set a napkin folded into a bishop's mitre in the center of the plate.
4. You can set small plates on top of napkins folded into roses.
5. Place goblet fans in water glasses before the meal.

(CC photo by Jeff Kramer)

• This napkin fold stands alone, placed in the middle of the plate or charger.

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a rectangle with the folded edge away from you.
2. Fold the bottom right corner diagonally up towards the center and align its edge with the folded edge.NapkinFoldingGuide.com: The Bishop's Hat Napkin Fold Fold the upper left corner diagonally down towards the center of the open edge. You should have a parallelogram made of two triangles, one facing down, one facing up.
3. Flip the napkin over so that you can no longer see the two triangles that form the parallelogram.
4. Fold the parallelogram in half, bringing the long top edge down to meet the long bottom edge. This results in two overlapping triangles standing side by side like two mountains in a range.
5. Hold the napkin so that the whole of the right-hand "mountain" shows. In other words, the left-hand "mountain" has a pleat across it about half way up, whereas you can see the uninterrupted triangle of the right-hand "mountain."
6. Take the far left bottom corner of the napkin and fold it towards you, tucking it behind the right-hand "mountain," between it and the center pleat.Butler's Guild: Bishop's Mitre
7. Turn the napkin around and tuck the foot of the other "mountain" behind its partner in the same manner.
8. You should now have what looks like the bottom part of an envelope without its top flap. Simply pull the bottom edges gently apart in the middle to form the mitre. Push the middle section down to hold it in place.NapkinFoldingGuide.com: The Bishop's Hat Napkin Fold

(CC photo by Tracy Hunter)

• This simple fold forms a napkin pyramid set on top of the plate or charger.

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a triangle pointing up with the long base towards you.Butler's Guild: Pyramid
2. Fold the bottom left and bottom right points up to meet the top point in the middle. You should have a diamond with the three points meeting at the top.
3. Fold the napkin in half again by taking the top three points and folding them backwards, down to meet the bottom point of the diamond.
4. Fold the napkin in half along the line made by the two triangles in the center.

(CC photo by David Singleton)

• The rose is a more complicated napkin fold. It can be placed on top of a charger, between it and a smaller plate on top, with the "petals" of the rose peaking out.

1. Fold all four corners of the napkin in to meet in the middle. You'll have a smaller square.
2. Fold all four new corners in again, resulting in an even smaller square (about 1/4 the size of the original napkin).NapkinFoldingGuide.com: The Rose Napkin Fold
3. Flip the napkin and again fold all the corners to the center.
4. Holding those points down in the center, reach underneath the napkin and pull the inside points of the bottom flaps out towards the outer corners of the napkin.

• The napkin candle stands tall in the middle of a plate or charger.

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a triangle with the longest edge facing you.
2. Fold the bottom edge up to form a band about one inch wide along the base of the triangle.WeddingDetails.com: Napkin Folding Arrangements
3. Flip napkin over.
4. Roll carefully and tightly from one bottom corner to the other, keeping the bottom edge aligned.

• In a play by Oscar Wilde, the title character's husband spots his wife's fan on the table of another man, leading him to suspect her of adultery.Wikipedia: Lady Windermere's Fan

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a rectangle.
2. Starting at a narrow end, fold 2/3 of the napkin into accordion pleats.NapkinFoldingGuide.com: The Standing Fan Napkin
3. Fold the napkin in half, cutting the pleats in two lengthwise and leaving the pleats on the outside.
4. Hold the napkin with the pleats on the left, their open ends facing up. Take the upper right corner and fold it diagonally down, tucking it behind the pleats.NapkinFoldingGuide.com: The Standing Fan Napkin
5. Fan out the pleats without unfolding the triangle in the back.

• Folded like an accordion, you can place a napkin in a glass and fan it out for display.

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a rectangle.
2. Fold it up like an accordion, starting at one of the narrow ends and working towards the other.
3. Stick one end of the pleats into a goblet or water glass.
4. Fan out the pleats.

• Folding napkins can be fun as well as useful. Experiment with different folds and find the forms that work best for you. Once you've got the hang of napkin folding, take a look at Mahalo's articles on how to set a table, polish up your silver or brush up on your dinner party etiquette. You'll be ready to throw an elegant dinner party in no time.