FALL QUILTED PLACEMATS

I mentioned earlier in a post for my Sew & Quilt-In-One Placemats that I would have to make me some using fall prints.  Since then I remembered....I already have some placemats for fall that I made last year.  I thought I would share them with you as they are different from the ones I made for Christmas/Winter and Spring/Summer.  In case you missed the tutorial for making them, you can see it HERE.

Material you will need to make 4 (6) placemats:

Print A  --  4  (6) fat quarters, or 7/8 (1-1/4) yards - 42 inch wide
Print B  --  1  (1) fat quarter
Print C  --  1  (1) fat quarter
Print D  --  1  (1) fat quarter
Backing --  7/8 (1-1/4) yards - 42 inches wide
Binding  -- 1/2 (3/4) yards - 42 inches wide
Batting  --  7/8 ( 1-1/4) yards 

I used six different prints for these placemats.....the four for the top, a different one for the back, and then another one for the binding.  The large print A contains all of the colors of the other prints.

I started by cutting the backing and the thin batting - 14 x 18 inches wide. (I cut 2 strips across the width of the material, 14 inches wide. Then from the strip, I measured 18 inches and then cut.  That gave me two backings from the strip.  The leftover 6 - 7 inches went in my scrap box. I repeated with the second strip to have backing for 4 placemats.) 

For the front, print A is cut 14 x 14 inches,  print B is cut 2 x 14 inches, print C is cut 1-1/2 x 14 inches, and print D is cut 2 x 14 inches.  Fat quarters work well for these.

 1) To begin, lay the backing "face down". 

 2) Lay the batting on top of that.  

 3) Starting with piece A, lay it "face up" matching the edges on the right side of the placemat.  The fabric should hold to the batting.  If you like, you can pin the top and bottom corners  and the middle on the RIGHT END with large safety pins and then again about half way across.

 4)  Lay piece B "face down" along the LEFT END SIDE of panel A matching top, bottom, and raw edges on the side.  I don't, but if you like, you can pin this strip down with straight pins.  If you have a "walking-foot" attachment for your sewing machine, use it here.  It helps to keep the top fabric from stretching as you sew.  Since you will be trimming the placemat before you sew on the binding, if the strips do stretch by the time you get to the bottom, it won't matter.

 5)  Sew strip B to A through all layers with a quarter-inch seam.

 6) Open out the seam and PRESS it. Once again, don't worry if strip B ends up being longer than the backing and strip A.

 7)  Lay strip C "face down" along the left side of strip B again matching top, left hand side, and bottom.  Pin to secure, if you like.



 8)  Sew strip C to strip B through all layers with a quarter-inch seam.

 9)  Open out the seam and PRESS it.

10) Lay strip D "face down" on strip C matching top, left hand side, and bottom.  Pin if you like.

11)  Sew through all layers with a quarter-inch seam.  

12)  Open out the seam and PRESS it.

13)  You will notice that the end with the narrow strips is "finished" (quilted).  You will need to sew "lines" through the panel A through all layers.  I drew lines every 1-1/2 inches apart measuring from the left side with a fine line washable marker.  Secure the panel with more large safety pins if needed. You can move them as you are sewing the "lines" if they are in the way.

14)  Stitch along these drawn lines working from the center toward the right.

15)  Do not trim the place mats until you have all of them made.  This way you can trim them all to the same size.  (I trim mine to a finished 17-1/2 x 13-1/2 inches measuring from the left side.  In other words, excess on width should be cut from the right side so that strip D will be the same width for all of the placemats.)
 
Once you have all of your placemats  sewed together, you will cut the binding. You will need to cut at least 7 (10) strips across the width of the material. I cut my strips 2 inches wide instead of the common 2-1/2 inches.  I do this so that the binding is the same width on both the front and back.  When it is folded lengthwise and pressed, you will be sewing a 1-inch wide binding to the raw edges of the placemats with a quarter-inch seam. It will fold over the edge and have a tight finished narrow binding when you slip stitch it down on the back side.

In this picture of the back of the placemat, you can see the "machine quilting".  The right side of the picture is where the prints B, C, and D are on the front side.  You can see the distance of the quilting varies as the width of the strips varied.

How to get a perfect mitered corner on your binding....You can check out my tutorial for this HERE.

You can also see a different method for making the diagonal seam when you join the beginning and the end of the binding in that tutorial.

I hope you can follow my written directions.  I made those placemats last year before I started my blog and so didn't think about taking pictures as I went along.

If you have any questions, leave them in a comment and I will get back to you with an answer.