It’s not always easy to get everyone around the dinner table every evening, but for our family, it’s important enough to make that effort each night, even when we have more things to do than hours to do them. And one of the things that has made this effort a little easier is to set a pretty table with candles (yes, even with little kids!) cloth napkins and placemats. We don’t bring them out every night. Sometimes it’s just a simple tablecloth or bare table, but sitting at a nicely laid table seems to help our family take a step back and enjoy dinner a little more. These placemats were a great weekend project and would also make an excellent gift. The felt backing helps to keep them from slipping around and adds a little padding to aid in the quilted look without needing batting. This is also a great way to use up your fabric scraps as the bigger the mish mash of colors, the more fun they are.
Things you need:(for each placemat)
1 rectangle of felt 19×15
1 rectangle of linen, cotton or other solid color light weight fabric 17x 13
Scraps of quilting cotton in a variety of prints
Fusible webbing
Sewing machine and notions
Contrasting thread and embroidery thread
Sewing needles
Fabric scissors
Pins
Things to do:
1. First, create the top of the placemat. For the long strip style, sew varying widths of 4-inch long pieces of fabric together to form a long striped strip. For the applique style, cut rectangles and squares from the fabric scraps. Onto both the strip and the squares, press fusible webbing onto the backsides, pressing in all the edges so that the right sides are finished edges.
2. Peel the backing off of the interfacing and press the strip or squares onto the linen rectangle.
3. Stitch down along the edges or just inside each of the shapes to secure them. Pin the linen rectangles to the felt ones, centering them so that there is an even amount of felt all the way around.
4. Roll under the edge of the felt and then fold down to cover the raw edges of the linen. Pin in place, mitering the corners.
5. Using embroidery thread and decorative stitches (such as whip and blanket stitch) to secure the binding down around the edge of the placemat.
6. Stitch empty squares onto the linen and play with your sewing machines fun stitches to add more dimensions to the placemats. Press and use!