patchwork placemats

Yay, I finally made placemats for our kitchen table. I don't know why I procrastinated so much, these were a lot of fun to make and came together rather quickly.

As much as I like seeing light colored placemats people make, I chose dark fabric for the centers simply because it's so much easier to keep them "clean looking". Stains do camouflage so well on darker fabric :)

I used 2.5" squares to border the main  fabric and I loved choosing and fussy cutting these prints. My 7 year old son claimed this placemat for himself as it had the most of his favorite prints.

I used home dec weight fabric for the backing and did simple straight line quilting about 1/2" apart.

I then bound them the way I would a quilt, the only difference being I cut my binding 2 1/4" wide instead of the usual 2 1/2".

I hand stitched the binding on which I might regret later since these will probably see a lot of washing machine action :) I do, however, love the look of hand stitched binding so all the extra work would definitely be worth it.

Each placemat finished at 12" x 16.5".

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In case you'd like to make placemats of your own, here's a quick tutorial.

Arrange 24 - 2.5" squares around 8.5' x 12.5" center fabric.

Piece the top and bottom sets of 6 - 2.5" squares, press the seams, and attach them the the two 12.5" sides of the center fabric.

Piece the two remaining sets of 2.5" squares together, press, and stitch to the sides. 

Make sure to use a consistent 1/4" seam allowance so everything matches up nicely once you stitch the side patchwork to the main fabric.

All you need to do now is make a quilt sandwich using insulbright or batting of your choice and backing fabric. Quilt as desired and bind.

That's it! Easy peasy, right?

Thanks so much for stopping by. Svetlana