Welcome to part 2 of the easy modern placemats sewing tutorial! In the first part, we gathered materials and cut out the pattern pieces. Now it’s time to sew them together!
Note that all seam allowances are 1/4”.
Step 1: Piecing the top
Take your two 7.5″x18.5″ placemat top pieces, one of each color (contrasting and main). Put the pieces on top of each other with right sides together and pin. Sew a straight stitch down one of the long edges of the rectangle with a 1/4” seam allowance. Press your seams open or towards the darker fabric. Don’t skip the pressing! It’s a very important step to ensure that your placemats will lie flat. Repeat this process for your other placemat(s).
Step 2: Putting it all together
You should now have 3 main pieces for each placemat – a front, a back, and fusible fleece – all measuring to about 14.5”x18.5”. It’s okay if things don’t match up perfectly, you can trim up your edges so they match.
To start putting things together, fuse the fusible fleece the wrong side of your backing fabric according to the package directions. This usually just involves pressing over it with a hot iron. Make sure to fuse it to the back of the placemat, as the fleece may pucker or wrinkle the fabric after washing.
Next, put your placemat top and placemat bottom right sides together. Pin all the way around the edges of the rectangle.
On one edge of your placemat, make two small marks about 2.5″ inches part from each other.
Next, stitch all the way around the placemat 1/4″ from the edge, starting at one mark and ending at the other. You should have a 2.5″ gap in the stitching, leaving a hole in the placemat.
You’re now going to pull the placemat right side out through the hole that you left. If you made your hole smaller than 2.5”, you may have some difficulty getting it through.
Use a chopstick (or something pointy, but not sharp) to push out the four corners to a point. Once you have finished pulling the placemat right side out, press it flat.
For the 2.5” hole, press the edges of the fabric inward about 1/4”, so that the raw edges are inside the placemat. Pin or clip this piece so that it stays closed with the raw edges inside.
Edgestitch all the way around the edges of placemat. When you get the to hole, ensure that you have caught the pressed-in seam allowance in your edgestitch to stitch it together. You don’t want this coming open later.
Once you’re done sewing, give it one last press and you’re done!
Nice work sewing your placemats!
Now you have a beautiful, simple set of placemats for your home. The best part – you can make as many as you want for whatever occasions you want. How cute would a set of holiday themed placemats be? If you’re ready to take your designs a step further, check out my post on customizing your design.
If you have questions along the way, drop them in the comments section and I’ll get back to you ASAP. I’d love to see any placemats you make – tag me on Instagram @stitchin_camaro.
