Serviettenapkin Folding Maries Lily Pad Variation Lotus Recipes

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, MARIE'S LILY PAD FLOWER

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a square shape.
• Take the top right corner and fold the point into the center point of the square. Repeat with the other 3 corners. You should have a diamond shape in front of you.
• Take the East point of this diamond and fold it into the center point, and repeat with the other 3 corners. The serviette will be square again and have gaps in the form of an X.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and fold each of the corners into the center point again.
• Carefully turn it over and you will see 4 loose points on the underside.(this step is only to make the next step clearer).
• Turn back over to the previous side, lay the serviette down and press firmly on the center point where the 4 corners meet. Carefully reach underneath with your other hand and grab one of the loose points on the underside and bring it to the outside of the corner that it belongs to. This creates the outer petal of that quarter of the flower.
• Repeat with the other 3 corners.
• If you are not putting something in the center of this serviette you may need to carefully secure the 4 central points with a pin.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, MARIE'S LILY PAD VARIATION, LOTUS

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a square shape.
• Take the top right corner and fold the point into the center point of the square. Repeat with the other 3 corners. You should have a diamond shape in front of you.
• Take the East point of this diamond and fold it into the center point, and repeat with the other 3 corners. The serviette will be square again and have gaps in the form of an X.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and fold each of the corners into the centerpoint again.
• Carefully turn it over and you will see 4 loose points on the underside.(this step is only to make the next step clearer).
• Turn back over to the previous side, lay the serviette down and press firmly on the center point where the 4 corners meet. Carefully reach undernieth with your other hand and grab one of the loose points on the underside and bring it to the outside of the corner that it belongs to. This creates the outer petal of that quarter of the flower.
• Repeat with the other 3 corners.
• At this point you have the napkin that I call Marie's Lily Pad Flower. but the Lotus calls for an extra step.
• Reach undernieth again and you will find a second layer of 4 flaps on the bottom, gently pull them out to the front side ( hold the centre points firmly so that everything stays intact) and you will have a fuller looking flower that has additional petals/ leaves at the sides, inbetween the main petals. This addition turns the napkin into a "Lotus".

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, ORCHID

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a square shape.
• Fold the serviette in half so that you have a long thin rectangle before you.
• Take the top right corner and bring it down to meet the centre bottom point of the serviette. This produces a triangle shape on the right side. Repeat with the left side so that you now have a triangle shape before you with a gap running down the centre.
• Take the bottom right point of the triangle and fold it up to meet the main point at the center, repeat with the bottom left point. You should have before you a new diamond shape with the loose points at the top.
• Take the right top flap and bring it accross and down so that what *was* the centre crease is now on top of the bottom right edge of the diamond shape. Repeat for the opposite side. The top of your serviette now resembles a rather stretched W form in it's outline.
• Gently take the two bottom points of that W form and fold them backwards to meet each other. Your serviette will have a thicker side on the left with 4 layers and a single crease on the right.
• Slip your serviette ring onto the base of this and bring it about half way up. Rotate the napkin to face you and gently pull out the two side flaps so that they are even. The center part will have a pleat down the middle. Arrange a little so that everything is as symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, FLEUR DE LIS VARIATION.

Steps:

• Lay your serviette out flat before you in a diamond shape.
• Bring the corner at the South point up to meet the North point. you should have before you a triangle shape with the crease at the bottom.
• Fold the East point of the triangle up to meet the North point, repeat with the West point. You will now have a diamond shape with a vertical gap running down the centre.
• Take the South corner and bring it towards the North point but stop 3/4 of the way up, crease it well at the bottom now then take the same point and bring it back over itself to the bottom center of the triangle.
• Carefully turn the serviette over and tuck the East/West points into each other.
• Turn serviette over to the front side and gently fold down the two side flaps, creating a Fleur de Lis type of serviette that has a the addition of a decorative cuff at the base.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, SYDNEY OPERA FAN IN WINE GLASS

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 open corner pointing upwards. We will call this the North corner.
• Take the East corner and make an accordion fold all the way to the West corner.
• Holding it firmly, gently pull out each of the 4 loose edges at the North point, fanning them out from left to right.
• Roll up the south corner a little to help the fan to keep its shape and place in a water or wine glass.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, SIMPLE FAN VARIATION

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you.
• Take the bottom right and left corners and make an accordion fold strips all the way up to the top right and left corners. If you press these with an iron the pleats will be nice and sharp. Leave unironed for a wavy casual look. (but ironed looks neater) You will now have a thin band the width of your accordion fold.
• Fold the serviette in half so that is is now half it's length and slip a serviette ring over the fold end of the accordion strip and pull gently about 1 inch ( 2.5 cm) up.
• Fan out the accordion pleats at the top to make a pleasing balance to the serviette. Present on a plate.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, THE FLEUR DE LIS

Steps:

• Lay your serviette square out flat before you in a diamond shape.
• Fold the South point of the diamond up to meet the North point of the diamond.
• Fold the East point up to meet the North point of the diamond and repeat with the West point.You will now have a smaller diamond shape with a vertical gap running down the center.
• Carefully turn the serviette over.The point that has the open edges should be in the South of the diamond position.
• Fold these South points up to meet the North point, you will now have a triangle shape with a horizontal gap in the center.
• Turn the napkin over again and bring the East and West points into the center, tucking them inside each other.
• Turn the serviette over again and gently fold down the two outside flaps to make the petals of the Fleur-de-lis.

SERVIETTE/NAPKIN FOLDING, FRENCH PLEAT WITH POCKET

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.