Thursday, December 1, 2011

placemats

Placemats. I don't think I've used them since I was a kid, when they were vinyl and hardwearing. Practical yes, but not that great to look at, despite the floral borders.  But with our new old table being so large, placemats seemed like the ideal solution and far more preferable than lugging out a giant tablecloth at every meal.

So I searched through my stash for an assortment of prints. Old tablecloths, teatowels, scraps from cushion fabric and quilting cottons made up the mix.




All double sided so easily flipped over for a change or to hide the inevitable food stains (shhh, you didn't hear that from me..)



All were sewn using a very similar method to here, only with a larger rectangle and just two pieces. These were sewn from rectangles of about 34 x 47cm, including seam allowances. I didn't bother hand sewing up the opening, but it simply enclosed when sewing the border seam. These are deep enough to pop a plate, cup and cutlery.







A very easy, quick and practical project. Which now frees me up to do a little christmas sewing.

A happy first day of December to you all.

8 comments:

  1. Placemats are a nice way to still be able to see that fabulous table too! Great work! :)

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  2. We religiously use placemats though sadly they are still of the plastic variety. My only hesitation in making fabric ones has been how incredibly stained they would become...you should see the state of our chairs and they have already been recovered in the past.
    Great job Tania..they are pretty enough to convince me to rethink my thoughts :)

    Happy December to you.

    xx

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  3. Hi Tania. My kids are so messy at dinner time, the table cloth was only last for 1 meal time. I succumbed and bought some hard wearing plastic ones from Ikea but I do have a tablecloth I love that I made from joining old tea towels. It gets used a lot and it pretty hard wearing. Anything made from tea towels is great!

    Anne xx

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  4. I love the creativity and colours of your placemats...they really do brighten up a meal i am sure!Like Ann i gave up using the cloth ones for awhile after they were going in the wash everyday...and i have so much washing already!
    Maybe i shall try the double sided trick!
    Jodex

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  5. I have had this project in mind for a few weeks, thanks for the push! Yours are gorgeous :)
    I admit to cutting a tablecloth just like yours in the last picture last night for a special Dotty Dog. Might have to use some of the offcuts for a few placemats :)

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  6. Oh so pretty! I love them. You've inspired me!

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  7. Great idea and they look fabulous.

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  8. These are lovely, what gorgeous fabrics you have in your stash. I made some embroidered placemats a few years ago but have hardly used them because I don't want to wash them all the time. I love the mismatched reversible idea. I'll be adding these to my ideas list - after my christmas sewing!!! Great idea. xo

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