Several months ago, I bought fabric on sale at Joann’s– Waverly’s Spotswood Stripe in blue.  I bought it because I thought it was beautiful, and I could make a table runner for the dining room which would compliment the curtains.  Seen here:

A Summer Setting

I bought two yards of it, and have plenty left over.  I was thinking about making placemats with the remaining fabric, but was especially inspired to do so after seeing Centsational Girl’s reversible placemats and napkins tutorial.  Heading back to Joann’s with another coupon, I scored some indigo linen for $10.79 a yard.  I bought one yard which is plenty to make about eight placemats.

It is pretty easy to make your own placemats, but they will look nicer if you can sew a straight line.  One thing to help, is take a fabric marker (chalk) and use a straight edge to mark your lines.  First, measure and cut your fabric.

Measure Fabric

I based my measurements on another set of placemats I have.  They are about 12″ by 17″, so I cut my fabric 13″ by 18″ so that I would have a little room to spare.

Cut fabric

If you are using a fabric with a pattern, be mindful of what you want to show with the finished piece.  Since one side of my fabric has stripes, I was careful to be as even with the stripes as I could.  When I was sewing, I also used the stripes as my guide.

Place fabric right sides together

Next step, place the fabric good sides together, and pin.

Pin fabric together

If you look carefully, you can see the line I drew.

Sew the sides together, and make sure to leave a gap a couple inches long.

Sew fabric in straight lines

Cut the corners off so that the fabric will lay as flat as possible.

Cut the corners

Turn the fabric inside out through the gap.

Turn inside out

Use a very dull pencil to get the corners as pushed out as possible.

Poke corners out with dull pencil

Next, iron the placemat so that everything lies flat.  Also, make sure you iron the gap so that it is turned the way you want it look finished.

Iron edges

The next step can be done a couple different ways.  You can just whip stitch the opening closed, or you can sew along the entire outer edge.  I opted to sew a line about a quarter inch all the way around, in a contrasting thread.

Detail stitching

That’s pretty much it!  Cut off any threads, and iron as needed.  Oh and you may want to wash the fabric ahead of time if you want to be able to just throw them in the washing machine.

My reversible placemat:

Reversible placemat

But of course, you have to see it in context.

Table set

I really should have thrown some more oranges color in.  A nice arrangement of pumpkins in orange and white would really set the placemats off.

Place setting

Along with my new placemats, I used our every day dishes, silverware, Mexican blue glasses, and embroidered napkins that came from my grandmother.  I don’t know who embroidered them, or when, but I think they are quite charming.  I also suspect they are something like 50 years old.

Napkin Detail

Each napkin (of the set of four) contains a different scene.  There are four coordinating placemats (I think) and a short table runner.

Embroidered Farm napkin

Embroidered Sailboat napkin

I really love the contrast stitching on the placemats, and it’s making me think of more possibilities.  Maybe make a pillow with a striking color like indigo or red, and stitch contrasting lines randomly across the pillow.

So far, I’ve made four.  But I think I’ll make another four, why not! :)

 Sometimes I participate in these parties:  House of Hepworths