When we got married one of the items I registered for was placemats. Exciting, right? While I love my denim colored placemats, spilled drinks and food meant tossing them in the wash, which lead to shrinkage.
I decided to make my own. I gathered my sewing machine, fabric, iron, and fusible batting. This is not a complicated sewing project. If you know how to thread your sewing machine, you will be able to handle this easily. I found my inspiration on this great blog, A Pretty Cool Life.
I cut two pieces of fabric (15 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches) and one piece of fusible batting (also 15 1/2 x 20 1/2).
I ironed the fusible batting to the "wrong" side (the non patterned side) of the fabric.
Once the batting was ironed to the back of the fabric I took the other piece of fabric, placed it on top of the first piece of fabric (right sides facing) and stitched all pieces together.
* Leave a 5 inch gap on the bottom of one short side to turn out *
Once all three layers were sewn together, I clipped all four corners.
Next I pulled the fabric through that 5 inch gap to get the "right sides" of the fabric on the outside (the batting will stay on the inside).
I ironed the placemat, making sure to fold the pieces of the gap inward.
I then topstitched around the entire placemat (1/4 inch away from edge). I stitched around a second time, 1/4 inch inside that first stitching.
The sewing part of the project was done.
Now on to the stenciling.
I used my usual acrylic paint but this time, because I was painting fabric, I added a fabric medium. This is to prevent any cracking in the paint from bending the fabric. This comes in handy if you are painting clothing or totes. I didn't see myself throwing my placemat around but you never know how aggressive I may become if there is chocolate cake involved.
Don't judge, crafting makes me thirsty.
Applied a little stencil adhesive, slapped the first stencil down, and got to work.
If these stencils look familiar, you may remember them from my Trendy Tray Table Project.
I let the painted placemats dry for about a day or so before my last step.
To avoid having to continuously wash my placemats I decided to give them an Oilcloth finish. I picked some up at Michaels, grabbed a squeegee (a balance free gift card would also work), and got to work.
Following the directions on the back of the oilcloth finish, I put a heaping amount on one edge of my squeegee and covered the entire placemat.
Note: The finish will pool, a bit, in the stitching. I simply used the corner of my squeegee (I cannot type that word enough), and removed any excess. I applied two coats to each placemat (I made two), waitied two hours, then applied two more coats.
Here is the finished product:
Such an easy project that can be personalized with any stencil or paint color.
~ B
