How to Make Placemats: Easy Beginner Sewing Project

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Yield: One (1) placemat

How to Sew Reversible Placemats

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Beginner

Learn how to make your own DIY place mats with this simple sewing project. A perfect project for beginners.

This is also referred to as making a placemat with the pillowcase method.

Use two different fabrics for these reversible placemats for different looks on your table, depending on which side is up!

These easy placemats come together quickly! You can make a set of four (4) in less than an hour!

Print

Materials

• Two pieces of fabric 19-inches x 15-inches, to make it reversible, select two different fabrics, one for each side of the placemat. This makes a finished placemat that is 18-inch x 14-inch rectangle
• One piece of acrylic felt or batting 18-inches x 14-inches. I like to use acrylic felt. It lies flat and stays flat with multiple washings.
• Coordinating thread

Tools

• Sewing machine
• Iron
• Pressing surface
• Scissors and tape measure OR rotary cutter, cutting mat and quilters ruler
• OPTIONAL: Corner turner, point turner or bodkin. Can use a chopstick or knitting needle

Instructions

1. Start by cutting your two fabrics and felt or batting for your fabric placemat. Here I've cut them all 19-inches wide by 15-inches tall for a finished size of 18W x 14H.
2. Layer the felt on the bottom, one of your fabrics FACE UP on top of the felt, and the other fabric FACE DOWN. The two fabrics for the placemat should have their right sides facing each other. The wrong side of one fabric should be on top. It doesn't matter which order the fabrics are in.
3. Take this quilt sandwich of fabric and felt to your sewing machine. You'll stitch three of the sides with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, with the raw edges lined up. I sew the two long sides and one of the short sides.
4. When you start sewing the second side, let the seams overlap. This makes the corner stitching more secure.
5. On the fourth side, start at one corner and sew several inches. Backstitch and leave an opening about 4-inches. Begin sewing to the other corner. This opening will be how you turn your placemat right side out. I've marked the opening in red on this image.
6. Trim your corners. You'll want to trim in the corner and angle the sides into the corner so there isn't too much bulk in the corner.
7. Turn your placemat right side out through the opening.
8. Use your corner turner to gently poke out the corners. Be careful not to push too hard and break your stitches.
9. Flatten your placemat and give it a good press. I like to use a lot of steam to get it nice and flat. Press the seam allowances to the inside of the opening.
10. Next, topstitch all around the outer edges of the placemat which finishes the edge and closes the opening. I stitch 1/4-inch from the edge. I start 1/4-inch from the edge and sew until I reach 1/4-inch from the next edge. Here I am starting the topstitching.
11. When I get to 1/4-inch from the next side, I stop sewing and place my needle down position, lift my presser foot and turn the placemat 90-degrees.
12. When all four sides have been topstitched, your placemat is done! Here is the truck side for the little one who loves trucks.
13. And, the other side is chickens!

Notes

If your fabric is directional, you'll want to cut the design so that it looks good with the long edge of the fabric horizontally. Directional means, is there an obvious one way for the design of the fabric. I've used non-directional fabrics for the reversible placemat.

Did you make this project?

Please share a photo on Instagram and tag us @createwhimsy. We'd love to see your creations!

How to make a placemat with bound edges

Binding around the edge of a placemat can add a design element, as it does in this patriotic placemat! And, it will give you practice on adding binding to a quilt.

Have a placemat ready for binding? Jump to the instructions on how to bind your placemat.

For each placemat, you’ll need:

• 1/4 yard red fabric
• 1/4 yard white fabric
• 6-1/2 inch square blue and white fabric
• 5/8-yard dark blue for back and binding
• Piece of batting 20-inches x 15-inches
• Thread to match

Tools needed to make a placemat with binding:

• Sewing machine
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Quilter’s ruler
• Iron
• Pressing surface or ironing board

Instructions for making a placemat with binding:

Start by cutting your fabric. For the red fabric, you’ll need three (3) strips cut to 12-1/2 inches by 1-1/2 inches and four (4) strips cut at 18-1/2 inches by 1-1/2 inches.

From the white fabric cut three (3) strips at 12-1/2 inches by 1-1/2 inches and 3 strips at 18-1/2 inches by 1-1/2 inches.

From the blue and white fabric cut a 6-1/2 inch square.

Start by sewing the shorter strips together, alternating colors, using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. If you have a 1/4-inch foot for your sewing machine, it makes it easier to sew an accurate seam. Sew one shorter red strip to a white strip.

Add a red strip to the white strip you have just sewn.

Keep sewing until all six (6) shorter strips are sewn together. Press seams.

Lay out the top section with the blue and white square on the left and the red and white stripes on the right as shown.

Now sew the blue and white print to the top section stripes.

Press top section and lay it out with the stripes for the bottom section.

Sew the stripes for the bottom section to the top section in order, like you did before, until the entire placemat top is sewn together.

Layer your backing fabric, batting and placemat top. If you’d like, pin to secure while you quilt the placemat. I find with pieces this small, the fabric doesn’t shift so I don’t use pins or baste. I just layer them and start quilting!

Quilt the placemat to your desire. I free-motion quilted waves across each of the stripes and free-motion quilted stars in the blue and white fabric. Here is the placemat all quilted and ready for binding.

Cut 2-1/2 inch strips of your backing fabric, or any fabric you want for the binding. You’ll need two (2) binding strips of 45-inch wide fabric. Sew the strips together, right sides together, end to end to form one long piece of fabric. Press open the seam. Press the long strip in half length-wise to form a 1-1/4 inch wide strip of folded fabric. Sew the binding all around the edge of the right side of the placemat, mitering the corners. Learn more about mitered corners.

Turn the binding to the back of the placemat and stitch. I like to do this by hand for a nice finish, but some people like to top stitch this in place by machine. And, you have finished a patriotic placemat with the edges finished with binding.

DIY Easter Placemat

For this placemat, I had fun using the built-in stitches on my machine.

To make the top of the placemat, I cut three strips of fabric to make the Easter egg and sewed them together. I pressed the seams open, since I wanted to do some stitching over the seams.

Next, I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine to stitch this lovely wave in a satin stitch.

Next, I added double-sided fusible web to the back of the stitched fabric. I like to use WonderUnder, by any double-sided web will work. Then, I cut out Easter Egg shape and stitched all around the eggs with a basic satin stitch.

I layered a placemat ‘sandwich’, with the backing, the batting and the placemat top. I marked the stitching lines with a Hera marker.

You can see the lines on the right of the egg in the image above. See all of the ways you can mark your quilt.

Then, I used another one of the built-in stitches on my sewing machine to hold the layers together. Next is the binding. You can see below I was beginning to hand sew the binding to the back of the placemat.

And, here are finished placemats! With handmade napkins and napkin rings!

Ideas for sewing placemats

• Practice quilting on your placemats. They are a small quilt, why not try out some designs in a small format!
• For straight or slightly curvy lines, use the walking foot on your sewing machine to make sure all three layers stitch evenly.
• You can sew the two rectangles of fabric together without a center layer for a light-weight placemat. If you are going to have hot plates, it is recommended to have a layer of batting, or I like to use felt.
• Some people like to use fusible fleece as the center layer. By fusing the fleece to one of the fabrics it stays very stable for sewing. I prefer the acrylic felt and it doesn’t seem to shift in the making process. There are lots of options!
• Looking for fun edges of your placemat? This is the time to try some of the decorative stitches on your sewing machine! Use a contrasting thread color to make the finished edge stand out!
• Making cotton placemats from fabric rectangles is a great way to use up larger fabric scraps and some of those fat quarters you ‘just had to have!
• Or, sew together smaller scraps to make a rectangle. Then quilt and finish a scrappy placemat!
• Use your leftover quilt blocks to make unique and coordinating placemats.
• Make a table runner to go with your new placemats! And, coordinating napkins! They are both easy sewing projects, too!

Have fun! Soon you’ll have a selection of placemats in a variety of colors for all occasions! Enjoy your table setting!