Though originally a striped material, 18th-century English mills added intersecting, perpendicular stripes to form the iconic square-patterned weave. The fabric's ordered simplicity is brilliant design. Gingham has been fashioned into everything imaginable in apparel and household goods—from swimsuits to sofas, and wedding gowns to wallcoverings. While gingham never really goes out of style, it's especially in vogue now.

Pink Gingham Party Ideas

1. Gingham favor bags, purchased in crafts stores, are dressed up with handcrafted paper bows. Download template here, print onto paper and cut out along edges. Use transparent tape to secure to gingham pouches as shown.

 2. Create favor containers fitted with gingham-style sleeves. Download template here, print and cut out along edges. Wrap around candy container and secure with double-sided tape as shown.

 3. Top little boxes with gingham-inspired paper squares, buttons and ribbons.

 4. Fly gingham flags personalized with messages or names. Let the flags fly from stick candy.

5. Purchased gingham-style parchment paper is a pretty liner for food gifts. Place your container on the paper and use the stripes as cutting guides. Use the paper for other crafting, too, such as for cards or homemade envelopes, wrapping paper or flower vase bellybands.

6. Add checks to iced sugar cookies by asking your local grocery store to print our gingham design onto edible paper, or even easier—have a baker make gingham cookies for you. Edible paper comes in sheets that are cut to size. Place one piece on top of moist frosting and pipe frosting around the edges. 

Download: Gingham design

Check Point

Custom-made gingham draperies frame a table grouping, creating a beautiful focal point for the room. Add a few books covered with paper printed out on an oversized printer and it's high style squared.

Checks & Balances

Make the monthly budget something fun to work on by coordinating your desk in a playful yet polished mix of black-and-white checks. Slip a sheet of gingham paper under an acrylic cover for your laptop and use additional paper to cover notebooks and pads, and wrap around or line acrylic boxes and cubes. You can even download our gingham pattern and use it as a screensaver!    

Download: Gingham desktop wallpaper
Download: Gingham smartphone screensaver
Download: Gingham office accessories

Child's Play

Oatmeal-and-white gingham poufs offer comfy spots to sit while crafting. They easily slide under a child-size table. The big bonus with the neutral cubes is the clean design moves easily into grown-up spaces, too. Pair them as ottomans in front of a sofa. Also shown here are oatmeal-and-white and pink-and-white heart-shaped pouches for holding small items. 

For the pouches, download the template here, print and cut out. Use a pencil to trace template on cardstock. Fold on dotted line. Cut along solid lines. Weave together as shown

Wall to Wall

Oversized stripes form an attention-grabbing gingham pattern on a focal wall. Select two shades of a single color and mark off the stripes on a white wall with painter's tape. Paint. The squares shown here are 2x2-foot, but you can adjust the size according to your preference.

Gingham Wall

Materials

• White satin interior paint
• Light taupe paint
• Dark taupe paint

Tools

• Paint roller
• Paint tray
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Sticky notes
• 2-inch painter’s tape

Instructions

Paint wall white. Let dry. Add a second coat if needed. Let dry. Use a measuring tape to measure and mark 2-foot increments horizontally along wall, starting from a corner, if applicable. Measure and mark 2-foot increments vertically along wall, starting from the baseboard. Determine which boxes will be white, light taupe and dark taupe, and mark with sticky notes. 

Tip: The light taupe will be in each column and row while the white and dark taupe columns and rows will alternate. 

Tape along the outsides of the white and light taupe columns. Tape along the outsides of the light taupe rows. Paint light taupe squares. Let dry. Repeat if needed. Repeat taping and painting process for remaining taupe squares. Remove all tape. Touch up lines as needed.