More Placemats

38 Replies

About a year ago I was going to make a big cushion. I had strips sewn together. The pattern called for a paper-pieced design on top of those strips, but somehow I could never find the enthusiasm to get going on it.

One day I got brazen and cut the cushion square into four pieces. These would be the center of my replacement project, a set of placemats. I wanted a minimum of six placemats though, so I sewed a few more strips together and cut them in half to make two more center parts.

I added some filler strips on the sides to make a longer rectangle, and then decided on a border. Triangles in two bands, top and bottom, should add some interest. I hadn’t made triangles in squares for a while, and had to think about it.

Here they are below, right sides together. I drew a line from corner to corner and sewed  a quarter inch from each side of the line, then cut along the line.

Open up and press. That gives you the squares with two triangles shown above.

I sewed the squares together in rows of eight and then sewed the triangle strips to the top and bottom of each placemat.

After putting batting and a backing on the flimsy (top), I did a bit of quilting in the center parts. Then I put binding around it, and voilà, a placemat made of a recycled cushion.

Don’t look too closely. It’s not perfect, but I feel good about having salvaged the remnants of one project, and used up many scraps at the same time.

38 thoughts on “More Placemats”

    1. wordsfromanneli Post author

      I’m so glad to hear this, Hans. I was beginning to wonder if anyone used them anymore. We do, all the time, but so many people eat “on the run” I thought placemats were falling out of favour. I like having several patterns on hand and change it up once in a while.

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        1. wordsfromanneli Post author

          That would be nice except it would never be worth my time and expense. By the time I buy all the material, the cost is already close to what anyone would pay for placemats and then there are the HOURS and HOURS of time. It’s a labour of love, that’s all. But it was a nice thought to get something back.

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  3. Sonja Forrester

    I love my placemats! Even if we happen to sit in the family room to eat dinner with a TV tray to watch the hockey game, I still use my cherished placemats! Love the ones you made for me, and thanks for sharing the creative process on your blog. 🙂

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  4. Ursula

    Those placemats are just fabulous! I love my placemats (made by Anneli) and we use them every day. When I have to wash them and wait till they are dry, the table setting looks so empty. The food tastes better if I have your placemats under the plates. I envy you for your talents!

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    1. wordsfromanneli Post author

      Haha! I often think about that when I see food drop on the placemats, but most of it is harmless stuff that washes out. I’d hate to see a big blob of grease end up on them but we rarely eat the kind of stuff that doesn’t wash out easily.

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  12. Mabel Kwong

    Looking at it closely, I can’t find fault with your placements. Wonderfully done, and they looks so seamlessly put together 🙂 The colours green, white and brown all go so well together, and there’s an earthly feel about this art you made. I take my placemats very seriously at home. They all have to be the same design so nothing looks like it’s out of place.

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    1. wordsfromanneli Post author

      Thanks, Jet. I always wanted to do quilting but for years had no idea how to do it right. I made some clumsy quilts without guidance in the early days, but once I took some classes and joined the quilting guild I had so much more help and it has been more fun than frustration ever since.

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