I have to apologize for being such a lazy blogger. Mind you I have the best of intentions but for some reason my ideas and thoughts never make it to this blog except for once a month - if I'm lucky. There are so many of you out there that do such a great job posting all the wonderful and fun things you are creating. I wish I could be you, but there's no changing me. I'm a procrastinator at heart and having two kids that keep me constantly busy - even when they are not home - just side tracks me even more.
That being said, I am finally posting these great place-mats I originally made for a gift but decided that my patio table needed them more.
Each place-mat is different with respect to the fabric placement. This one is my favorite combination.
The pattern is so easy! It takes 4 different fat quarters plus 1 yard of fabric for backing and 1 yard of fusible interfacing. I like to use a fleece one.
Layer the fat quarters on top of each other. Measure and mark 5" in from the top left and 3 3/4" from the lower right. Align your ruler with the marks and cut diagonally through all layers. Take one of the pieces from the top of one stack and put it on the bottom so that each layer now has two different fabrics. Sew these two different fabric together for each layer. Press seams open and re-stack layers with the seams roughly on top of each other and aligned.
Now measure and mark 2 1/4" in from the bottom left corner and 3 1/4" in from the upper right corner. Align ruler with marks and cut diagonally through all the layers. Shuffle pieces by taking the right top 2 layers and placing them on the bottom of the pile, making sure that each layer now has all 4 fabrics. Sew to make new rectangles. I try to align the center seams but it doesn't always work out that way.
Once you finish sewing, press the seams open. At this point you can cut the rectangles down to whatever size you prefer for a place-mat. Cut the backing and interfacing to match in size. Fuse the interfacing to the pieced top of the place-mat, layer the backing, sew all around leaving a 5" opening for turning. Turn, press and top stitch as you desire. I use a decorative stitch along the seam lines.
I hope these directions are easy to follow. Once again, if I was a good blogger I would have taken some pictures of these place-mats in progress to help you along. I'm striving for that for my next little tutorial. Wish me luck. I need lots of it these days.
You can make these as well. All you need is a strip of fabric about 5" wide and 40" long. Cut 8 5" squares. Cut 4 5" squares of interfacing. I used a fusible fleece. Fuse the interfacing to one wrong side of 4 squares. Layer up the pieces- wrong sides together. Sew around leaving a small opening on one side for turning. Turn, iron and stitch around the outside edges. This will close the opening and add a nice finish. Done!
