If you use cloth napkins on a regular basis...

Faon

How do you keep the edges from curling up, which makes them look so messy and unattractive? I machine-dried mine, and they are like this and very wrinkly. When air dried, they are stiff and wrinkly. Also, how often do you wash them and do you wash them with towels? I want to go at least a week, but that could be a bad idea with food on them, right?

I'd really like to use cloth napkins regularly. 

Alisha_A

Well, for fancy, you have to iron them.

But since I live alone and don't have dinner parties, I don't.

chigirlinaz

I suppose you could iron them. But I hate to iron, so I just let mine be slightly wrinkly. Then again, we don't use fancy cloth napkins either. Just some cheap white ones from Ikea, not exciting but they get the job done. I have a ton of them, so I just toss them all in a bin after use and wash them with our other dish towels once a week.

CDMay2006

I think it makes a difference if the fabric was preshrunk before they were sewn (that's my best guess at least).  Ours are curly.  It's ok with me.  When we want them to look "nice" we don't generally iron them, but do fold them, so you don't see the curly edges anyway.  We wash ours with towels, though if we wanted them to stay nicer, we wouldn't.  It ends up being once every 1-2 weeks or so.  We aren't particularly messy and ours are dark colours, though, so maybe yours wouldn't be so happy. 

mrsskiz

Honestly with our day to day use, we just use regular wash clothes. I bought a stack of 12 really cheap, keep them folded in a little basket in a drawer in the kitchen, we use them with meals then use the same ones to clean up afterwards like wiping down the stove and counters with either vineger and water or Shaklee. Since 2 adults and an 8 year old dont cause a super huge mess we can do that, then they get washed with a load of towels each week. I use our big metal beer bucket container that I leave in our pantry so i can throw a wet cloth over it so they dont get moldy if they arent washed right away.

We also have CLEAN ONLY clothes that are white which are used for cleaning up spills on the floor or dusting things like that, which are washed with our regular whites so they get bleached.

Since we have so few get togethers at our house its not a huge deal to iron our "special napkins" to keep the curls out.

SuperGreen

I also wash mine with towels, clothes, other rags, etc... I don't really sort my laundry at all beyond lights and darks.  My napkins curl but I don't care.  If you really care, try taking them out of the dryer right when the timer is done, and flattening them as you fold them when they're warm.  We wash ours when they have noticeable food stains, which is about once a week or so.  We keep them in a bottom kitchen drawer, and just fold them up after dinner and put them back there.  I never used paper napkins growing up, so the concept is just so foreign to me.  Cloth napkins are so much easier, they actually catch spills instead of food going right through onto your lap, and they look so much nicer.

jebuell

I use only cloth and I've never had this problem.  What kind are you using?  I use embellished terry cloth.  They're thick, can be used for anything, and don't wrinkle.  I wash them with my towels.

rocket2japan

The ones I have don't really curl but some of them get wrinkly. I used to iron them but now I just fold them right out of the dryer and the wrinkles don't really show.  I don't have much time to iron anymore and I don't really care whether or not they are wrinkly anymore. Some things are more important to me now.