Super Easy Placemats!
In the past, most of my sewing projects have been various items of clothing, but lately I've been in the mood to make more houseware items. I've also been experimenting more with quilting, as you saw in the sewing machine cover project. For the latest experiment, I decided to try quilted placemats, and you know what? They're so easy! And better yet, they're completely reversible.
I'm not sure how popular placemats are, because I have a hard time finding them in stores. At least, stores around here. But after putting a thin plastic one on a wooden TV tray, and then lifting it up a few months later to find that the hot plates had melted the finish on the tray underneath, I decided that they can be pretty important in protecting surfaces from hot food. This project will use all 100% cotton, because it's more heat resistant than synthetics (I'm going by my iron here in terms of heat resistance; polyester is only 3, and cotton is listed as 6, and I've melted polyester by forgetting to adjust the settings).
This pattern has square edges, which require an extra step when finishing the placemats; to make these even easier, round the corners. Using a small plate upside down will help you get a nice arc.
Since all the materials are cotton, you might want to pre-shrink everything. I pre-shrunk both the fabric and the batting (one of the fabrics shrunk about 3" while the other only shrunk about 1", so not pre-shrinking could potentially cause some problems).
Using the pattern you just made, cut out 4 pieces of each type of fabric and the batting. Arrange them in layers as follows:
Now, if you're using rounded corners on your placemats, you can just bind the edges with double-fold bias tape as you would bind any other edge. But if you're looking for more of a challenge, here's a video I followed on how get really nice mitered corners on your placemats.
I also used a slightly different seam to join the ends of the bias tape (I left several inches unsewn at each end for this, as suggested in the first video). Rather than a straight seam, I used the right-angle method of sewing tape together, then trimmed the seam to about 1/4", like this:
Double-check that the tape will lay flat and fold properly.
Sew the seam, press it open, and continue finishing the edge.
Once the edges are finished, you're done! Easy, right? Super easy, even.
 |
| Quilted placemats before binding the edges |
What you'll need:
- 1 yd of quilting cotton
- 2 yds of a solid cotton, or a different quilting cotton print
- 1 yd of this material is to make bias tape to bind the edges; if you don't plan on making bias tape you'll only need 1 yd, but you'll need to buy about 8 yds of packaged double-fold tape
- Cotton batting
- Cotton thread
- A paper bag, brown packaging paper, or a sheet of newspaper/tissue paper
- Tape measure and pencil
- Pins (and a chalk or erasable marking pencil, but that's optional)
Directions:
Using the tape measure and pencil, mark out a rectangle on the deconstructed paper bag, or whatever type of paper sheet you're using that's 13" x 19". From the placemats I measured, that seemed to be a standard size, but you could also make it larger or smaller depending on your table (but you might need more/less fabric). Cut out the rectangle; this is the pattern for your new placemats!This pattern has square edges, which require an extra step when finishing the placemats; to make these even easier, round the corners. Using a small plate upside down will help you get a nice arc.
Since all the materials are cotton, you might want to pre-shrink everything. I pre-shrunk both the fabric and the batting (one of the fabrics shrunk about 3" while the other only shrunk about 1", so not pre-shrinking could potentially cause some problems).
Using the pattern you just made, cut out 4 pieces of each type of fabric and the batting. Arrange them in layers as follows:
- Fabric 1, right side down
- Batting
- Fabric 2, right side up
Now, if you're using rounded corners on your placemats, you can just bind the edges with double-fold bias tape as you would bind any other edge. But if you're looking for more of a challenge, here's a video I followed on how get really nice mitered corners on your placemats.
This video has an alternative method that doesn't require sewing the bias tape twice: Mitered Corners with Bias Tape.
With the method from the first video, I did find that I had to apply the tape so that it didn't line up exactly with the edge of the mat. Lining it up so that the fold/ditch was about 1/4" from the edge of the mat made it much easier to turn it over to the other side. On the first attempt I lined it up evenly and ended up having to trim the seams in order to bind the edge properly.I also used a slightly different seam to join the ends of the bias tape (I left several inches unsewn at each end for this, as suggested in the first video). Rather than a straight seam, I used the right-angle method of sewing tape together, then trimmed the seam to about 1/4", like this:
To find where to put the seam, I marked where the two ends would overlap with pins, then matched the pins into a +, right sides together, with the center folds of the tape.
Once the edges are finished, you're done! Easy, right? Super easy, even.
Set them out on your table, and enjoy your new custom, reversible placemats!
Comments
Post a Comment